So who were Vasco da Gama,
Myles Standish and Hernando Cortez and why did we spend so much time learning
about them in our history classes? Did they deserve so much of our attention?
Which begs the bigger question: How well is
history being taught in schools? And who determines what gets taught – and what
doesn’t make it into the history books?
Kenneth Davis, author of "Don’t Know Much About History,"
and Mark Cline Lucey, a social studies teacher at Vermont Commons School discuss the state of history instruction
in schools, and methods some teachers are using to make the subject more exciting and accessible to
their students.
Also on the program, we revisit Prohibition.
Vermont Public Television’s Chief Content Officer Kathryn Scott tells us
about special VPT programming and events leading up to the premiere of the new
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick documentary "Prohibition," airing in three
parts on October 2-4. Scott describes the
stories of Vermonters who were involved in illicit booze-smuggling across the
Canadian border and the rich literary tradition that emerged from this
contentious time in America’s – and Vermont’s – history.