World History audiobooking
Nov. 11th, 2003 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
applecameronSo today at the studio I read from a world history book (high-school level) on the aftermath of World War II -- european reconstruction, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Cold War -- which was really great because I didn't get a lot of that history in high school. Or, to be more precise, 'almost any'. And compared to the Prop 13 kids, I got a *stellar* education. But, it still has gaps.
Awareness of this lack on my part generally culminates in a desire to get a history degree oh, once a day. Ish.
I think what with the moving around between high schools I got less straight history and more civics than the average student, and in general, when I reflect back on this, I think students should stay in school until they're 20, but spend the last two years going only part time. Or, make community college mandatory, both of which are off-the-cuff suggestions unlikely to be taken by anyone anytime soon.
It's hard to say at what point a person will realize the study of history is useful and important, but the classic high school experience does not promote thinking about the outside world, and that's what history is about and where it becomes relevant. High school is too insular.
I didn't care about history for years, and then realized that I did care, it was just history *classes* that drove me nuts, because I'm context-heavy. Ask me to memorize the date something happened, and I'm going to look at you and ask why. But discuss attitudes and themes during the post-WWII european reconstruction as precursors to the cold war and the erection of the Berlin Wall, and I'll sit up and take notice.
Anyway, the short version of all this is that it was a pretty decent textbook and I had a good time today, making it possible for the blind and dyslexic to study from it. :-)
Awareness of this lack on my part generally culminates in a desire to get a history degree oh, once a day. Ish.
I think what with the moving around between high schools I got less straight history and more civics than the average student, and in general, when I reflect back on this, I think students should stay in school until they're 20, but spend the last two years going only part time. Or, make community college mandatory, both of which are off-the-cuff suggestions unlikely to be taken by anyone anytime soon.
It's hard to say at what point a person will realize the study of history is useful and important, but the classic high school experience does not promote thinking about the outside world, and that's what history is about and where it becomes relevant. High school is too insular.
I didn't care about history for years, and then realized that I did care, it was just history *classes* that drove me nuts, because I'm context-heavy. Ask me to memorize the date something happened, and I'm going to look at you and ask why. But discuss attitudes and themes during the post-WWII european reconstruction as precursors to the cold war and the erection of the Berlin Wall, and I'll sit up and take notice.
Anyway, the short version of all this is that it was a pretty decent textbook and I had a good time today, making it possible for the blind and dyslexic to study from it. :-)