How Not to Get Kids Interested in History

[Jedburgh]

Students outraged after museum destroys diorama

Highland High students and faculty are up in arms after hearing that a diorama they helped build was destroyed by Texas museum officials who said it was historically inaccurate.

The 10-foot by 5-foot diorama of the Battle at Palmetto Ranch, the last land battle of the Civil War, was shipped last August to the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin, along with four other dioramas built by Gilbert students.

Highland history teacher Glen Frakes is especially outraged because more than 7,000 hours were put into the project.

“A lot of people are being crushed by this,” Frakes said. “It was like a death. It was terrible.”.....

.....The museum, which belongs to the Texas National Guard, had a change of leadership and the new director, Jeff Hunt, told Frakes in November that the diorama was historically inaccurate and he had dismantled it.

Hunt did his master’s thesis on the Palmetto Ranch battle and also wrote the book The Last Battle of the Civil War Palmetto Ranch, which Frakes said he and his students used as a guide while constructing the diorama.....

[marden]

To encourage an inaccurate history is not the way, I think.

There are other forces afoot.

Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: February 14, 2008

A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable platinum blonde from “American Idol,” appearing on the Fox game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?”

Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.”

Such, uh, lack of global awareness is the kind of thing that drives Susan Jacoby, author of “The Age of American Unreason,” up a wall. Ms. Jacoby is one of a number of writers with new books that bemoan the state of American culture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/bo...=5070&emc=eta1

Facts matter.

[Billy Ruffian]

While I appreciate Mr. Hunt's devotion to historical accuracy, ordering the diorama dismantled, IMHO, was the wrong choice.

With digital cameras and email, a better option might have been to snap pictures of the inaccurate sections, load them up to photoshop and mark areas which could be improved and then send it off to the High School builders with advice for alterations. I realize that schools are often pressed for cash, so if the students and staff were unable to make it out to the museum to make alterations, why couldn't museum staff, under the expert direction of Mr. Hunt who clearly had enough time to inspect the diorama of his master's dissertation, make alterations on their behalf? Surely that would have involved a comparable investment of time that destroying it entailed.

Destroying it will only serve to make the students feel like crap. It's stuff like this that makes young people not want to try, at anything.

[Uboat509]

There is also the question of how inaccurate was it? There is a difference between a devotion to historical accuracy and just being pedantic.

SFC W

[Steve Blair]

There is also the question of how inaccurate was it? There is a difference between a devotion to historical accuracy and just being pedantic.

SFC W

Exactly. I've also seen a fair number of innacuracies in museums, ranging from item tags to dioramas. I suspect there's something else going on here that might not have made the original story...like the possibility that the museum didn't have room (or didn't want to make room) for the addition, didn't want to store it, and twisted the regs governing donations into not being able to return the item. And since it wouldn't have been "historically significant" (in other words it wasn't a period artifact or something similar), they destroyed it.

A damned poor call, if you ask me. No matter what the justification behind it.

[Ron Humphrey]

Exactly. I've also seen a fair number of innacuracies in museums, ranging from item tags to dioramas. I suspect there's something else going on here that might not have made the original story...like the possibility that the museum didn't have room (or didn't want to make room) for the addition, didn't want to store it, and twisted the regs governing donations into not being able to return the item. And since it wouldn't have been "historically significant" (in other words it wasn't a period artifact or something similar), they destroyed it.

A damned poor call, if you ask me. No matter what the justification behind it.

History is knowledge and those who need to appreciate history the most are our students. If the foremost thought in how to deal with the situation didn't involve taking into consideration the effects it could have on those who studied to create it then perhaps something isn't quite as it should be.

For those not in the study of actual military tactics, etc what purpose does a museum serve if not to genuinely peak ones curiosity so as to desire greater more in depth knowledge of that past. Considering the normal visit to museum groups it is very unlikely that many would have realized that something wasn't perfect, but I'll bet many more will notice whats not there now.

[Ken White]

You'd think someone smart enough to write a historical treatise would be smart enough to know that all history is subject to misstatement, misinterpretation and just plain old errors of fact. Any one who thinks they have all the answers even if they were there is borderline dangerous -- if they weren't there and think that, they're flatly dangerous.

That was a really stupid move on Hunt's part and if the Texas guard has any sense, they'll fire him just for grins. That's a high School that won't be providing too many 'cruits to the Guard, I suspect.

[Adam L]

May I first of all ask if it was possible to FIX the historical inaccuracies. I do believe that accuracy is very important, but use a little common sense. Put a sign up explaining the inaccuracies. I do not believe anyone would think less of the students for their errors.

Adam L

[Billy Ruffian]

May I first of all ask if it was possible to FIX the historical inaccuracies. I do believe that accuracy is very important, but use a little common sense. Put a sign up explaining the inaccuracies. I do not believe anyone would think less of the students for their errors.

Adam L

Hear hear!