Ideally, however, among other things, historical materials should be part of the raw material of a young person’s character, values, beliefs. The Gettysburg Address isn’t just a bunch of words to be retrieved when the moment calls for it.
FDR isn’t just a name and a face and some dates. But the Internet makes them appear so to teenage minds. The kids don’t go to sites such as
History News Network or
The Smithsonian to explore. They go where they can get the stuff they need quickly and in usable form. History is just information, and it takes a lot less effort to get it through the Web than in the book stacks or microfiche readers. Less effort, though, means less learning. Sometimes the easy way out leaves you empty.
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