When I was a kid growing up, I thought I might want to enter the priesthood. I really liked the Church and studying and I thought it might be a peaceful life. Well, I've gotten a good dose of being sequestered in a monastery the past few days and I face another three days. I've been reading Advanced Placement US history essays and frankly I'm worn out. The good news is I've learned a lot of history and I've put a lot of perspective on my knowledge. It's kind of like the theory that the only way to truly learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. Well that's what's happening here.
I've always been confident in my knowledge of history. Here I'm surrounded by history savants. I'm learning from other high school teachers, college teachers and many who have PhDs. If you love history, this is the place to be. The problem is that it is mentally draining. We read essays about 6 1/2 hours a day. I've read in the neighborhood of about 400+ essays in the past four days. We have three more days to go.
On top of the reading they bring in speakers and have seminars. I heard a prominent historian speak last night. I was excited to hear him speak on the New Deal. The speech portion was excellent, however the question portion turned into a lovefest for Obama supporters. If turns out the professor saw fit to make a favorable comparison of Obama to FDR. That thrilled all the leftie Obamaphiles in the audience to no end. To me that is certainly a case of "Damning with faint praise," but the One's people loved it. He did make one startling admission, the New Deal didn't end the Great Depression. That sent shivers down the spine of all the Dems in the room. He followed that up with "Well, that's not news." I think he should let the left in on that little tidbit of news, because that's been gospel for the Dems for many years.
At least something good came out of the speech. I'm going to sign off for now so I can study for grading the essays tomorrow. A monk's work is never done. I now retreat into my cell to contemplate the study of our history. For now I'll humbly refer to myself as Herodotus.
Monday, June 8, 2009
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10 comments:
I've been a Democrat all my life and I always though WWII ended the Great Depression. Either those guys need to read your site or I'm wrong.
Best wishes.
Grading essays can be exhausting. So I know from plenty of experience -- I teach composition. The absolute worst is checking all the mechanics and form issues on research papers, even if the topics are interesting.
The speech portion was excellent, however the question portion turned into a lovefest for Obama supporters.
No opportunity missed to adore "The One," huh?
Have fun Herodotus. That does not sound like my cup of tea.
Got'cher toothpicks handy, I hope?
And as AOW said, never a missed opportunity to worship Obama.
The Democrats and the Leftist continue their never ending quest to rewrite history.
Not many of us seem willing or able to crush them with the truth....keep up the good work.
how're the essays? IS there any hope for American students!?
Good luck in the cell!!
K>,
Thanks for the visit. I will give you credit for your ability to sling through the crap and see the truth, despite ideology. Sorry for the late reply.
AWW,
Essays are at times mind-numbing. We certainly are overpaid, (he said with tongue in cheek.) Happy summer. Thanks for the visit.
AA,
I met a Vietnam vet there who was 78 years old having served two tours. We had a nice story swap, although I was a punk compared to him. He was a professor at U. of South Carolina. Great guy. Thanks for the visit.
Brooke,
Thanks for the visit. It was amazing how much work we were able to get done. I'll post later today as I'm home now.
Pat,
Thanks for the visit. The truth is hard to get around. Revisionism, yeah, a problem.
Z,
Thanks for visiting. I'll post later today as I'm home now. Some students get it, some will be politicians. Enough said.
Leftists are aware that FDR's attempt to balance the budget in the late 30's prevented the Keynesian recovery from succeeding.
I don't know why the audience was surprised. Just took WW II to boom up those deficits and get it done. Did anything particularly useful come from the right during the depression?
Ducky,
Thanks for the visit. As for Keynesianism I'm not a fan. I don't think deficits particularly benefit the economy regardless of what political party is in power.
It seems to me that the right, or Republicans, or conservatives, whatever you call them, were silenced rather effectively by the FDR regime. The WPA and other fascist entities run by his cronies did some serious damage to the US economy in the 30s.
The historian of whom I spoke made a point that anyone who didn't realize that the depression was a worldwide affair didn't get it.
I submit that FDR's conduct surrounding the London Conference proved that he didn't see the depression as a worldwide occurrence. Interesting.
Thanks again for visiting.
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