<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">While I find the concept to be a little sensitive, I do find that these could be actual learning toys for boys and girls to learn about a major part of history. Why not try to make an important part of history into a useful learning tool, even more so when you consider the following:Those of us who enjoy military history usually just switch on the History Channel for our daily fix of guts, gore and armed conflict. But if you are a serious war buff, and you want to relive one of the most horrifying moments in the deadliest war in human history, an Italian toy maker has just the thing.
Brumm recently unveiled miniature models of Little Boy and Fat Man. Those names may conjure up images of cuddly cartoon characters, but theyre actually the codenames for two atomic bombs that the U.S. military dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of World War II.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Like I said, it may be sensitive, but perhaps a correct way to go in regards to teaching important aspects of history.Almost one in ten 18-24 year-olds named Abraham Lincoln as the first president of the U.S.
Three percent of college graduates could not name the current president of the United States.
More than half didn’t know that Franklin D. Roosevelt was president for most of World War II.
More than half couldn’t name Andrew Jackson as the president on the U.S. $20 bill.
Source
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 24, 2006 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Quoth the Raven ]</font>
Interesting, I saw something about this earlier.
A little leary of the "toy" aspect, but as far as a learning tool I'm with ya.
Honestly, I thought this thread might be something about Chris Farley doing "fat guy in a little coat" LOL! [img]wink.gif[/img]
Well, I'm not usually into model's (these are scale models aren't they?) but I'd love to get my hands on these guys.
Just something about having nukes on the shelf is somehow reassuring. Cozy, even. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Wonder how well they'd go through security at the airport?
To the security supervisor: "Uhm, sir. Could you take a look at this on the X-Ray? I know it's not listed on the proscribed list but . . ."
Oh, those are adorable!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tiny weapons of mass destruction<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maybe it is just wishful thinking.Originally posted by Quoth the Raven:
Three percent of college graduates could not name the current president of the United States.
I don't know if I'd reduce them to a toy, but bear in mind you can go to most any hobby store and buy a model of the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. But toys aside, the lack of knowledge our citizenry has of history is really, really disturbing. I know I'm biased, but I think history is as important as any subject in school (other than shop class, of course). It tells us who we are, and more importantly, where we're going. But the reason students are turned off by it (other than the fact that so many of them are idiots) is that history isn't taught honestly. It is by far the most politicized subject taught, and kids are no more excited by politics than adults.
Quick example of this- when I was in grade school in the 70s, the Cold War was still on and we were the good guys, and the Soviets were the evil bad guys who were going to nuke us the first chance they got. Even as a 6th grader, I thought that wasn't completely fair since the U.S., not the U.S.S.R., was the only country in history to use nukes against another country. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I learned U.S. troops fought on Russian soil against the Bolsheviks (granted, only a limited engagement, but still, no Russian troops had ever fought on U.S. soil against Americans). It wasn't until I got to college that I was able to piece together their building of the "Iron Curtan" within the context that three times in 130 years they had been invaded from the west, and the last time it cost them 25 million lives, and that, maybe if that happened to us, we'd probably take drastic action as well.
Now don't get me wrong, they were bastards and I'm not about to exonerate them (and I'm talking of the Soviet government, of course, not the people). But if students had been taught about the Cold War in a more honest context, rather than another episode of "Good vs. Evil," I think there might have been a lot more understanding and a lot less paranoia.
That said, so long as those toys don't contain active warheads, I guess it's not the end of the world.
"But if students had been taught about the Cold War in a more honest context, rather than another episode of "Good vs. Evil," I think there might have been a lot more understanding and a lot less paranoia."
Great point, but if that happened quite a few parents would try to get that teacher fired for introducing politics into history.
Oh, no question, LanD. And teachers don't want to live in fear of losing their job (nor should they) so I don't blame them. But it's not just the teachers, it's the books, the multimedia, everything.
My mom was a history teacher and we have copies of various textbooks going back to the 60s, and I'm fascinated as I go through them. It's not just the Cold War, you could pick any topic and see this crap. To this day, Vietnam is pretty much whited-out. There will be a chapter that mentions it, the 58,000 troops who died, and maybe a picture of the memorial. But the War of 1812 will get more coverage. Japan is condemned for not apoligizing for Pearl Harbor, as if we didn't want them to do such a thing so we could finally get into war against Germany. I could go on and on.
That's why to learn history, you really have to employ a wide range of sources. You and I have debated the use of the a-bomb before. But while I firmly believe the U.S. was justified in its decision, I have no problem whatsoever with people asking the question and looking into it. And that was the problem I had with the Air Force Association during the whole Enola Gay controversy several years back. To me, it seemed like they were shocked that someone would even dare to question that issue, almost as if it were blasphemy. Well, nonsense. Of course an issue like that should be scrutinized. There are many who agree with you that we should not have used it. You're all wrong, of course [img]wink.gif[/img] , but that doesn't mean the issue shouldn't be discussed and studied.
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