The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, Volume IV, 1965Various
History
The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, Volume IV, 1965
Various
Loudoun County (Va.) -- History
Without waiting for the survey, we have already begun one small
experimental program ourselves. We came to the conclusion, while we were
developing our survey plans, that if History is to have any effective
impact on these minority group children, they should be exposed to it as
early as possible, and as effectively as possible, before they have
become embittered and alienated in their reaction to the social
conditions in which they live. We accordingly developed a teachers’
source-book for teachers of kindergarten and the early elementary
grades. The book comprises 27 separate essays on important holidays
commemorating events of significance in American history. I can perhaps
best describe the book, and what we hope it will accomplish, by reading
two paragraphs from its introduction:
“‘Holidays’ has been written primarily for elementary school teachers
who are searching for ways to communicate meaningfully and with balanced
perspective to very young children those values inherent in American
history: patriotism, heroism, self-reliance, and tolerance, to name but
a few. The book is intended to help busy teachers who need brief, pithy,
scrupulously-researched essays that are laced with ideas for
presentation. The authors are specialists, whose experience and
scholarship have particularly qualified them to write with authority and
accuracy on their subjects.
“Included in this book are regularly celebrated American holidays for
all races, creeds, and regions across the entire nation. Among these
are: Alamo Day, celebrating the memory both of valiant Mexican-Texans
and Anglo-Americans who died together for the principle of
self-government; United Nations Day and Pan-American Day, which both
symbolize world unity and peace; American Indian Day and Commonwealth
Day, neither widely celebrated, but both undeniably American. From these
and the other stories youngsters can start to learn about their
privileges and responsibilities as members of a pluralistic, democratic
society. They will also begin to establish a useful base of historical
knowledge upon which they can build in subsequent school years.”
In this endeavor, and in some related educational-historical projects,
we believe that we are indeed making some very good use of history in
the national interest.
I have one last HERO project which I should like to mention as being
relevant to the uses of history.
You will recall my concept of history as society’s memory. Several of
us, through long and bitter experience, have come to the conclusion that
the memory of the Government is not very good. We are dismayed by the
duplication of effort in Government research and in policy-making; by
the lack of communication which exists between people doing related work
in different Government offices, and by the lack of communication within
individual Government offices—which is another way of saying lack of
continuity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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