History is cool.

I remember when I was in college taking a course in Western Civilization. Since I am a history buff I absolutely loved it. The Professor, I think his name was Dr. Ridgely, gave tests in a unique way; at least it was unique to me. Instead of 50 or 100 multiple choice questions or something like that he gave us small booklets with about 10 lined blank pages. He would give five questions, we had to answer three of them.

A test question would be similar to this: "Describe the major events in Western Europe between 1800-1825?" or "List the reasons why the Nazi party was able to gain power in Germany?" Our answers would then be written like a short story describing said events. The course covered two semesters, I made an "A" in both courses. I was successful because I loved the subject and you had to STUDY to answer the questions.

This post is written in support of history. I read a newspaper article one time where teenagers were asked "what is your least favorite subject in school?" One of the answers was history because it has no benefit whatsoever. I beg to differ. History in my opinion is the most important subject taught in school. History teaches us about our past and the mistakes that were made that led to wars or major blunders that had far reaching effects. But history must be studied in it's purest form. History is not a compilation of opinions or interpretations that the author wants to publish. As an example, I am not the least interested in a person's opinion of why the Civil War began. What I want to know are the FACTS, the actions, the events that took place leading up to the Civil War.

Too often today, history is being revised to say something that it is not. Instead of getting the facts, kids today are getting political slants on what the author wants the kids to hear or see. This is a dangerous precedent. You can interview any of my kids and they will tell you that I constantly want to know what they are being taught in school regarding history. It is important.

Consider the protesters of the "occupy wall street" movement. Most of them, I believe are young college graduates. They have been told that big business and corporations are responsible for the economic mess we are in. They have been encouraged to protest the heads of big corporations because they make too much money. Yet, a study of history would reveal that our current economic crisis began with policies introduced by Teddy Roosevelt and expanded by Woodrow Wilson. Is that my opinion, not hardly, these are FACTS of recorded history.

My challenge to young people, learn the facts of history and then draw your own conclusions. Do not become a lemming and waste your time following some political ideologue.

And by the way, who cares how much money a CEO makes. It's none of my business nor is it any of yours. It's a waste of time and a distraction to worry about such things.