Why not a new High School course called Theoretical History

This course would be an elective, either half year or full year. It would explore subjects such as the NWO, Roswell, the JFK assassination, MJ12, and other "theories" related to historical events.

None of the topics would be presented as fact but the course would be allowing students to think critically and form their own beliefs about things.

An example of a project/assignment would be handing out a printout of the enlarged Ramey memo (Roswell related) and having students try and decipher/interpret what they see in the blurred letters.

I, for one, would love this class. It would get people to think and be less gullible. Thats exactly what our population needs.

How paranoid would our children grow up to be ?

Deep

I don't see the government ever, ever, ever ever ever... allowing this to happen, especially if there really is an NWO, etc...

I would definately take this History class. it would be a lot better than taking that Civil war history n stuff.

sooooo....how will this class help me in my pursuit in becoming a successful rich american?
that's what i thought....................................

I would've taken it, it would've been great to open up that sphere of thought.

Zero, they wouldn't be paranoid. As I previously stated, none of the evidence would be presented as fact. The more "accepted" theories would be mentioned, but the point of the class would be to explore the evidence of the "conspiracy" theories. This way, students would think critically and not believe everything they are told. They may become motivated to research major events.

For example, when talking about the JFK assassination, the accepted theory of Oswald acting alone would be presented, but the theories that it was the CIA/FBI, LBJ, or the Mafia would receive equal attention. No idea would be criticized.

The reason I thought of this is because there is a kid in my US History 2 class who believes in conspiracies. Everytime the teacher mentions 9/11 he says he thinks it was the government; when she mentions Iraq he thinks we're there only for oil. He is always ridiculed though and the teacher simply gives a "Well, I don't think so." I defended him today by telling the teacher that she seems to put too much faith in the "honesty" of the government. In a class such as the one I proposed, students such as he will be allowed to voice their opinions and do research without fear of ridicule.

sooooo....how will this class help me in my pursuit in becoming a successful rich american?
that's what i thought....................................

The knowledge you learn in school isn't just to get you rich. That is also why I said it would be an elective. Most electives are classes people take to explore different options. And actually, I think a course like this would motivate students to become more active in voting, making their votes count, and not taking everything at face value. I think our country would be better off with a more skeptical population than with a population that just goes along with everything.

[Edited on 21-4-2004 by Cutwolf]

That would have been an interesting, though I don't think it would be very beneficial to anyone.

What does it really teach you? And who is going to pay for it?

What would it teach? It would teach people to be open minded. It would teach people to explore things on their own and form their own ideas. It would teach individuality and it would give students confidence to express their beliefs and ideas. It would hopefully make students feel strong enough about something that they go out and try to change it (wether its by voting or writing a letter to their senator or anything like that).

Something I think that does need to be taught in schools, as far as history goes, is a perspective such as that found in A People's History of the United States. Though I thought some of the book was a bit extreme, it does give you a perspective of history through the loser's eyes. I am very glad I had read it. I think our schools have an intellectual responsability to teach history from the winner's perspective and through the loser's perspective, so the kids can learn that everything you're told isn't necessarily true, and that perspective plays a major role in how history is told.

That would be a Class that would be more enjoyable than some. I wouldn't doubt that your idea will be a reality in time. Many people just aren't open to new idea's and whatnot, wanting to live in their small boxed in mind. Also to add I would say that government would let this go on, that would give them one thing more to point at and use to call the public paranoid. Many times reality is much more wild than any Fiction.

It would definitely be an extremely interesting class.
Even if they could incorporate alternate theories of history into history courses in the same way. Presented as food for thought along with the accepted view of history, not as fact.

Well, I already get that in my AP World History class. Our teacher is obsessed with conspiracies. In fact, he may be a member of these boards. We're not up to the time period of most of the interesting conspiracies, but he already shares with us his thoughts on 9/11 and the JFK assassination. He'd certainly be willing to teach such a class.

Good to hear that you've got a teacher open to such ideas. I have a history teacher like that when I was in highschool, and it makes the learnign experience morew enjoyable, imo.