Death to stupid.
From English class on Monday:
Prof: "Does anyone know how WWI started?"
TehStupid: "It was, like The War to End All Wars cuz, like, all the countries got together and decided to fight this war so that, like, they wouldn't have to like, fight wars again, so like, it got called The Great War."
Me: *headdesk*
Much more forgiving Prof: "Not quite, no. Anyone else?"
Student who knows something: "Archduke Ferdinand's assassination in Yugoslavia."
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Seriously... WTF?! Ok, maybe the assassination of Ferdinand is a bit obscure - but fighting so they wouldn't have to fight wars again? Jeebus. *This* is why both my grandfathers (and 3 great uncles) served in WWII? I can hardly wait to hear TehStupid about the cause of that in 30 years: "Hitler was, like, totally pissed that Brits wouldn't buy his paintings, cuz, they, like, preferred Jewish art, so like, Hitler killed a bunch of Jews and then invaded France to steal their paintings."
Another fine reason history (and esp. Canadian history) should be mandatory from about grade 4 onwards. WWI helped put Canada on the map. Canadian troops won the respect of the world when they took hills that no one else could. We, as a nation, went from being a British protectorate, to being a nation that had it's own identity. The cost was more then substantial - there is some sort of memorial in every town I've been in, listing the men (and occaisionally women) who died in service. These are not short lists.
It just really pisses me off to know that kids today don't even understand *why* those people died.
Prof: "Does anyone know how WWI started?"
TehStupid: "It was, like The War to End All Wars cuz, like, all the countries got together and decided to fight this war so that, like, they wouldn't have to like, fight wars again, so like, it got called The Great War."
Me: *headdesk*
Much more forgiving Prof: "Not quite, no. Anyone else?"
Student who knows something: "Archduke Ferdinand's assassination in Yugoslavia."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seriously... WTF?! Ok, maybe the assassination of Ferdinand is a bit obscure - but fighting so they wouldn't have to fight wars again? Jeebus. *This* is why both my grandfathers (and 3 great uncles) served in WWII? I can hardly wait to hear TehStupid about the cause of that in 30 years: "Hitler was, like, totally pissed that Brits wouldn't buy his paintings, cuz, they, like, preferred Jewish art, so like, Hitler killed a bunch of Jews and then invaded France to steal their paintings."
Another fine reason history (and esp. Canadian history) should be mandatory from about grade 4 onwards. WWI helped put Canada on the map. Canadian troops won the respect of the world when they took hills that no one else could. We, as a nation, went from being a British protectorate, to being a nation that had it's own identity. The cost was more then substantial - there is some sort of memorial in every town I've been in, listing the men (and occaisionally women) who died in service. These are not short lists.
It just really pisses me off to know that kids today don't even understand *why* those people died.