Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "teaching"

When I was a high school senior, I took United States History, and our teacher was a retired colonel who did his level best to make history the most boring subject. He'd worked for Kaiser-Frazer Automobiles (later bought by AMC in turn later bought by Chrysler Corp.) and told office stories that nobody cared about at all. I loved history, so I enjoyed the class more than my friends did.

One thing I disliked about history classes was the teachers' decisions to always skip over the different wars. Yeah, I wanted to hear about brilliant Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign or how D-Day had unfolded. Another peeve I had was the school year ran out before we covered the historical events happening even in recent ages.

If I was a teacher, I'd pick history as the one class I'd like to teach. There's more to draw on than just read from a dry textbook like my 12th-grade history teacher liked to do. Our local newspaper ran a story about a history teacher who invited in local World War Two veterans to give oral histories of their war experiences. Now that's something the young minds could take in and never forget. At least I know I sure wouldn't have forgotten it!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"A curling and sparking electric wire of a read!"
Frank Wheeler, Crime Factory