I Cannot Tell a Lie: Are Historical & Cultural Literacy Things of the Past?

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Please welcome guest blogger, Val Thompson!. Val is a witty and brilliant middle school geography teacher at Daniel Boone Middle School in Douglassville, PA. We taught together for three years and spent many lunch periods lamenting our students' lack of background knowledge. In addition to educating students about our world, she also sneaks in reading strategies. And you all know I'm a huge proponent of teaching reading in the content areas. Enjoy!

For added fun, see how many obscure and "lost" cultural references you recognize.  No Googling... that's just not fair!

I cannot tell a lie:  historic and cultural literacy are things of the past.  I am a geography teacher in a middle school, and I understand all about reading and math scores and the pressure to pass tests.  I get that we have students with more needs and problems and less of a budget to work with.  But for the love of Jesus (Jesus who?… for real, I got that last year), we need to make sure our kids know some stuff about history, culture and geography.  I have a dream that in 20 years, when I say “I have a dream,” people will get that cultural reference.  I am not optimistic.

I have a degree in history, so I “get it” that many things I know are off the charts in obscurity.  But even as a child I knew things that kids today do not know, and they are connected to basic cultural literacy.  Bullfights are in Spain, lions come from the African plains.  The guy in the beret  near the café is a FRENCH artist, but if I fall in love with him, he might be my Romeo. It seems I to me that I knew these things as a child; got these cultural references from educational television such as Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry.  Even television and movie references have gone by the wayside, and frankly, I give a damn.  Because we are one generation or so removed from kids not understanding anything we say, and it makes me mad as a hatter.  Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

If cartoon and movie references are lost, history is worse.  No one has heard of Alexander the Great.  I don’t mean they can’t place him in a century or list his accomplishments… they never heard of him.  Or that Cleopatra was an Egyptian.  Or even that pyramids were Egyptian.Joan of Arc was not Noah’s wife (Noah who?). And when it rains cats and dogs, you can’t say, “We’re going to have to build an ark” because they don’t understand. I hate to even publicly admit this, but one of my colleagues asked me if Gandhi was black, because I was teaching about CivilRights. Et tu, Brute?

So, if you love your children, tell them that the Taj Mahal is more than a casino, and that TRex was not a contemporary of Baby Jesus, who apparently chased down a lot of old guys from the Bible (yes, another war story from history class). I’d bet you the Brooklyn Bridge that many don’t know the difference between Washington (the wig guy) and Lincoln (the hat guy).  And speaking of New York (which is where Brooklyn is), make sure they know who The Babe is. And they should know the difference between Yogi Bear and Yogi Berra. It would also help to know that Opera is a kind of singing and Oprah is a talk-show host. Oh, and there are 50 states. Watch movies, talk to your kids, and read, read, read, read, read. We have a chance to preserve our cultural literacy.  It’s not over ‘till it’s over, folks.