Teaching History to Our Kids

If we don't tell our kids the stories and history of our American heritage, they won't know it.

This seems so obvious, but is so overlooked. If you and I don't tell our kids our version of history, someone else will tell theirs. Look at the way the US has changed its history over the years to reflect its new beliefs. It has been said that our founding fathers would turn over in their graves, if they knew what was being said about them.

So, why tell your kids the stories of history? That they will know your beliefs and your values.

Growing up, I was taught that the American Revolution was over some tea and taxes. I even taught that to my fifth-graders. Over the last several years I learned that those were only symptoms of the American Revolution. One of the biggest issues in the revolt against England was a Presbyterian revolt.

At Yorktown, all of Washington's colonels (with one exception) were Presbyterian elders. Over half the soldiers in the Continental Army were Presbyterians (and the rest were other kinds of Calvinists). The British army specially targeted Presbyterian churches because they knew that they were in the thick of it. One of the names for the war in England was the "Presbyterian revolt". The single biggest controversy in the colonies before the war was whether or not the king was going to appoint any Anglican archbishop over all the colonies. "No King But Jesus"
(taken from Doug Wilson's notes at Trinity Fest, August 2005)

You see that it does depend on who tells the stories as to what your view of history is. I, for one, want my own kids to have my view of history. . . a politically, incorrect view of history . . . a verifiable view of history.

Kerry

ps. to read and learn more about history see America: First 350 Years.