Just wanted to say "Thanks DUers".

[woodsprite]

I grew up in the late 60s-70s and really did not have the opportunity (or interest at the time) to learn much about the Vietnam war. It was a taboo subject in school, even when I got to American History in high school. Well, thank goodness I've learned a bit thru many posts here. I'm glad to say that I was able to help my 9th grader with her homework last night on "Compare/contrast the Vietnam War and the current war in Iraq. Make sure to include the Gulf of Tonkin incident and Mai Lai Massacre in your comparison."

Without you DUers, I would have been saying "What?".

She's in a US school, but is in an advanced class with a British-based curriculum. I don't know if that's the reason they're going over it in such depth, but they also had a REAL interesting unit on Germany and the rise/fall of Hitler and some interesting comparison-type essay work.

I'm glad she's covering topics that we barely acknowledged back in my days in school. Last year, she had to memorize the Bill of Rights Preamble and Amendments, along with pertinant Supreme Court cases. Kinda cool! :)

Even with all the infighting here regarding the Primaries, I love this place!

Thanks again for all you do.

[LibDemAlways]

1. She is fortunate to be in a school in which the

curriculum includes recent US History. My daughter has been exposed to US History classes in school twice - 5th and 8th grades - and is due for another go-round 2 years from now in 11th. Every time it's the same damn thing - early explorers through the end of the Civil War. Either the people who plan the curriculum are morons who don't realize there is much more to US History, or they don't want the kids exposed to it. It's got to be one or the other.

I do the best I can to fill in the massive gaps, but I'm afraid she'll be in college before she (hopefully) has a meaningful course in the subject.