The Progressive Era was neither progressive or an era. Discuss.
Was e-mailing with deridere regarding various highly important subjects when the following exchange took place:
Me (in response to a link to a non-profit organization on the Crow Indian Reservation): Looks very cool. I haven't been to Crow in years although one of my classmates was half-Crow. Her last name? Bear Don't Walk.
Deridere: My coworker's sister works on the reservation I believe, doing something with Indian rights. I wonder if they have good coffee. Good news, ankle is slowly resuming normal size.
Me: That is a good thing. Just FYI Crow is where Custer's Last Stand happened.
Deridere: ?
Me: Custer's Last Stand or me saying that the swelling going down is a good thing?
Deridere: The former. The latter just makes me laugh and think of inappropriate retorts.
Me: I hesitate to ask because of the potential for stinging rebuke, but do they not teach Custer's Last Stand in Merry Ol' England's primary schools? The famous slaughter of the US Cavalry in 1876 by a huge Indian force? It was used for many, many years afterward as justification for any action taken against Indians? The arrogant and flamboyant Custer (who was born very close to where Ozy and I were both born) who got the ultimate comeuppance by severely underestimating the size of the opposing force?
Deridere: That would be a big ol' no - what the hell do they care about American History? Actually, other than the pilgrims, which I learnt about whilst in first grade here, I didn't take another American history class until high school, and that was some beatnik 60s crap.
Me: But we're forced to learn Cromwell, the Magna Carta, 1066, Gladstone/Disraeli, Churchill and the Profumo scandal. This is getting blogged. I feel violated by being forced to learn all that crap.
Deridere: We have more important things to learn, like the industrial revolution, etc.
***
Moral of the story (I think): Is it all possible that the American educational experience is more diverse than previously thought?
Me (in response to a link to a non-profit organization on the Crow Indian Reservation): Looks very cool. I haven't been to Crow in years although one of my classmates was half-Crow. Her last name? Bear Don't Walk.
Deridere: My coworker's sister works on the reservation I believe, doing something with Indian rights. I wonder if they have good coffee. Good news, ankle is slowly resuming normal size.
Me: That is a good thing. Just FYI Crow is where Custer's Last Stand happened.
Deridere: ?
Me: Custer's Last Stand or me saying that the swelling going down is a good thing?
Deridere: The former. The latter just makes me laugh and think of inappropriate retorts.
Me: I hesitate to ask because of the potential for stinging rebuke, but do they not teach Custer's Last Stand in Merry Ol' England's primary schools? The famous slaughter of the US Cavalry in 1876 by a huge Indian force? It was used for many, many years afterward as justification for any action taken against Indians? The arrogant and flamboyant Custer (who was born very close to where Ozy and I were both born) who got the ultimate comeuppance by severely underestimating the size of the opposing force?
Deridere: That would be a big ol' no - what the hell do they care about American History? Actually, other than the pilgrims, which I learnt about whilst in first grade here, I didn't take another American history class until high school, and that was some beatnik 60s crap.
Me: But we're forced to learn Cromwell, the Magna Carta, 1066, Gladstone/Disraeli, Churchill and the Profumo scandal. This is getting blogged. I feel violated by being forced to learn all that crap.
Deridere: We have more important things to learn, like the industrial revolution, etc.
***
Moral of the story (I think): Is it all possible that the American educational experience is more diverse than previously thought?