We have a long, ugly history of white supremacy in this country, ranging from Jim Crow laws to keep African Americans down to the 1924 Immigration Act to keep non-Europeans out.
Max BootRead
History education in schools is so poor that students often enter college ignorant of the past - and leave just as unenlightened.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quality of history education is insufficient, leading students to remain uninformed about historical events even after college.
Max Boot highlights a significant issue in the education system, particularly in history education. He suggests that the way history is taught in schools fails to equip students with a proper understanding of the past, which leads to a lack of enlightenment not only during their schooling but also throughout their collegiate experience. This raises concerns about the importance of historical knowledge in shaping informed citizens.
Themes
EducationHistoryIgnoranceStudentsLearning
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about educational reform, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for improved history curricula.
More from Max Boot
All quotes βThere is little doubt that our society is changing rapidly, but one thing will never change as long as we remain a democracy: the need for voters to know the essentials of our history and government.
Max BootRead
Freedom will not prevail because of historical forces; it will only win, if it does, because of historical actors. In other words, us. Those like me who came of age around 1989 used to take democracy for granted.
Max BootRead
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If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools, and the next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church. At the next session you may ban books and newspapers. Soon you may set Catholic against Protestant and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the minds of men.
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School is about learning to wait your turn, however long it takes to come, if ever. And how to submit with a show of enthusiasm to the judgment of strangers, even if they are wrong, even if your enthusiasm is phony.
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