My early 20s son knows ALL about Oppenheimer. Not only his historical significance, but also the details of his theories and work on the Manhattan project. Of course he's got a physics degree from t.u. so I guess he learned a thing or two there.

He's the one dragging me to see this movie.

I thought everyone knew he was a commie, not a nazi.

I didn't until I recently finished a biography, American Prometheus.

Is it possible that she is confounding the Manhattan Project with some aspects of Operation Paperclip?

Viper16 said:

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Don't take this the wrong way Hollywood BQ, but what did you teach your child about US History over the years?

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No offense taken. It is a fair question. Also kind of why I'm questioning myself, as a parent, should I have spent more time on history education?

I taught them some of the same Texas History that my father taught me (since he's Mr. Waco but I didn't grow up in Texas).
I definitely covered the US Revolution, Bill of Rights (which the Aussies don't have). And of course with the elections - Bush, Obama, Trump, I discussed the Congress, the Electoral College, etc. Made them learn all 50 states and capitals.

I didn't really cover any Military History with the kids. Didn't teach them much about the Pacific Theater.
My father was a Cold Warrior so he did tell them about his time in West Germany.
The kids both took German so they discussed Reunification, Berlin Wall, etc.

My daughter who is doing the Barbenhiemer movie double feature tomorrow (we used to see Margot Robbie on Neighbours so kind of have to support her as Barbie) did take a school trip to Poland, Germany and Italy in about 10th Grade (Year 10) I think. So she's probably more well versed in European History (especially after 6 years of German in school).

And of course with her attending college at VMI, she got pretty well dosed with The Army of Northern Virginia, Battle of New Market, etc.

I just assumed the Aussie schools would have covered WWII in the Pacific so I never really thought about it.

We did hear in the news about Midget subs being found in Sydney Harbour and one of her friends was killed in a freak accident when an old WWII era structure collapsed at North Head. But that's about the extent of the discussion of the War in the Pacific.

https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-news-veterans/80th-anniversary-midget-submarine-attack-sydney-during-second-world

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8493389/Student-21-died-Sydney-North-Head-WWII-bunker-collapsed-laid-rest.html

We always ran out of time in the school year when I was in there. Seemed like every history class I was in made it up to the reconstruction era and then the school year ended.

93MarineHorn said:

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I wasn't taught anything about Oppenheimer in HS or college. I don't think this is that big a deal, OP. It's certainly not a "sign of the times" thing.

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Class of '93 or Born in '93?

Maybe it's just me who finds this stuff interesting.

slaughtr said:

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Where did you live in Australia?
I attended Rostrevor College in Adelaide as a boy, speaking of expensive private school.

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Sydney's Northern Beaches - 2097 (as Lorde says - No Postcode Envy)

OP, hate to break it to you but you can buy tickets to 70mm showings anywhere tomorrow. It ain't an LA thing.

Hubert J. Farnsworth said:

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We always ran out of time in the school year when I was in there. Seemed like every history class I was in made it up to the reconstruction era and then the school year ended.

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yes, that happened when I was in elementary school too. But we also had SRA reading materials and I learned about the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos from those short stories. Oak Ridge was not as prominent in history classes, although I believe it was very important to the Manhattan Project's success.

I'd say it's a yellow flag on the kid's education.

At what age does a developing human achieve the ability to grasp complex historical concepts and have the capacity to understand? 10? 12? So a school environment allocates 1 hour a day for 6 school years to impart important information regarding the totality of knowable human history? Most of everything just isn't going to fit. Even if the institutions are appropriately focused.

So… who can supplement this education? Whoever has home life control of the kid! Congrats, Dad, you're performing your role!

AgEngineer72 said:

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For a reference, I'm an old who was apparently taught more history in public school and at TAMU than my kids were. We were taught the bomb was developed by the U.S. and there was some mention that it was a secret called the Manhattan Project. But we were never taught names like who the scientists were other than a passing mention or two. I don't recall learning of Oppenheimer until my own readings as an adult.

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Being 20 years older than me - assuming Class of '72, I can see how that part of your history books wouldn't have been rounded out yet.

In my case in HS in the late 80s and A&M in the early 90s, our history books always stopped right at Vietnam. They had a couple pages but the teacher always ran out of time before we could get to Vietnam. I kind of wonder if they even cover it today.

At least in Australia, Vietnam gets addressed by Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes in the song "Khe Sanh" which is informally referred to as the Australian National Anthem.

Why Los Alamos?

HollywoodBQ said:

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At the request of my Engineering degreed daughter, I just bought tickets to see Oppenheimer in 70mm tomorrow night (the day before it opens nationally - one of the few perks of paying to live in LA).

You would think this is going to be a hooray hashtag Women in STEM story but unfortunately, it's a sad state of education story.

After I bought the tickets, she says to me, now who was this guy? Was he like a Nazi scientist or something?

My jaw hit the floor. Not so much that she didn't know who he was - at least she's going to attend the movie and find out, but the fact that she didn't even know whose side he was on. She does know that we stole some scientists from the Nazis but that is more space program related.

I spent a ton of dough on private girls school in Australia and on out of state tuition at the West Point of the South. I can't believe that they didn't cover the development of The Bomb in either of those settings.

Maybe it's just accepted these days that "Nukes are Bad M'Kay" and they don't even discuss the Manhattan Project in history class.

It's been a long time since I took American History in HS, or US Military History in college but I just can't believe that kids these days would not even know the particulars about how we won the War in the Pacific. Since the Pacific Theater affected Australia the most, you'd think that they would teach schoolchildren that their bacon was saved by The Yanks and their A-Bombs. Also by Yanks like my Grandfather who went to Brisbane before participating in amphibious assaults in New Guinea and The Philippines.

So I asked her why did she want to see a 3 hour long movie (runtime 180 minutes with $22 tickets) if she didn't even know who the guy was. She said she heard it was a good movie.

I sure hope it is a good movie, we'll see.

So my question for the parents out there is - What do your kids know about Robert Oppenheimer, The Manhattan Project, WWII in the Pacific?

Is this just an isolated incident or, are we in the midst of an American History Pandemic?

Politics because - our kids should being taught this at the HS and/or College level.

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My kids were homeschooled, so they know about everything you listed. And it only took 3-5 hours per day, public school wastes a lot of time for little benefit other than daycare.

Of course we had to sacrifice and only had one income, but some people value vacations and new cars every few years more than a good education.

AgGrad99 said:

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My HS son took a dual credit, college History course last summer.

It was so ridiculous, I ended up auditing it with him. It should have been renamed 'Racial History of the United States', because that's all it dealt with. As an example, the section on WWII didnt mention Hitler one time, in any of the study material, quizzes or tests. Not once. Every section was like this. Very little actual historical knowledge, just information about how groups were negatively affected socially.

I was bothered by the material, because it was severely lacking actual historical information. As a result, I did some quick research on the book/author and found out it was the #1 history curriculum used in High School and college currently.

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How do you have cover WWII without Hitler?
That would be like trying to explain why the US spent so much time in Iraq without mentioning Saddam Hussein.

Dorm 15 said:

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Why Los Alamos?

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Oppenheimer lived in Albuquerque and thought the Sangre de Cristo mountains would be private and far enough removed to maintain the secrecy needed.

His idea.

I just quizzed my 18 yo son. Who just graduated a public tx 6a HS. He knew all about Oppenheimer, Manhattan Project, etc. He said they taught it in school although not at great depth. I think this is a cautionary tale that private school education is largely a giant ripoff. Although public HS in TX is probably superior to ****hole california

P.H. Dexippus said:

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When I was dating my born and raised Texas wife, I discovered she had no idea who Sam Houston was. And she had lived in Houston, including during high school. History is just not some people's strong suit.

I'd rank ignorance on the father of the atomic bomb somewhat lower.

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No way.

I'm not saying I don't believe you but, how is that possible?
I mean how do you not know who captured Santa Anna and won Texas Independence?

I hope she's not one of the "Come and Take It" flag wavers.

I don't expect her to know Juan Segiun, Mirabeau B. Lamar, or James Fannin, but at least Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston?

I'm always curious about city names, county names, street names.

Statue on the side of I-45.

Can't help but share one of my favorite pics of my two oldest boys circa 1995.

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me the one and only perfect caption for this.

Fat Man and Little Boy(s)?

ETA: I'm dumb sometimes. Didn't look that closely at the shape.

Here's why nobody remembers Oppenheimer.

I've talked to a bunch of people that can't wait to see the movie but not one person has mentioned any interesting fact about Oppenheimer. I've seen a bunch of Twitter threads promoting the movie as well, but not one of them mentioned even the smallest quirky fact about him. Same with 2 pages of post in this thread.

localag88 said:

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I'm well educated, yet I had never heard the name until Sting or Billy Joel used it in a song....not sure who was first.

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Let's see... I think the Russians loved their Children (1985) before Billy Joel started the fire (1989).

Three Little Boys?

Fat Man is behind them on the left hand side.

aggiehawg said:

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Fat Man and Little Boy(s)?

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That would have worked if I'd been in the picture.

Sid Farkas said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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The name "Oppenheimer" sounds pretty Nazi-ish.

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Sounds Jewish to me. Kinda makes him an anti-Nazi.

I got tix for the first IMAX showing on Saturday morning in Irvine. Ca.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/oppenheimer-movie-70mm-imax-travel-f4931482?st=3zebuz1v6iw45iw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Quote:

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Dedicated film buffs are hitting the road to grab a seat at one of only 30 theaters in the world capable of projecting IMAX 70mm film prints of "Oppenheimer." Their journeys range from an hour's drive to hourslong flights. Some are turning the excursions into weekend getaways, crashing at friends' homes nearby....

In the U.S., just 19 IMAX theaters will project the 70mm film with a perfect 1.43:1 aspect ratio. None of those theaters are in Milwaukee, where Pablo Hurtado lives. So Hurtado, a freelance writer and senior annuity contract manager at an insurance brokerage, is taking Friday off work to get up at 5 a.m. and drive five hours to Indianapolis, where he will see "Oppenheimer" in IMAX 70mm.

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Close friend of mine is driving from Austin to SA to watch it.

I predict it's going to be great.

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3 hours... At least 3 hour long Bollywood film have an intermission.

I didn't know there are only 30 theaters that can support 70mm.
I've got two within 5 miles of my house and about 4 within 10 miles.

BadMoonRisin said:

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Three Little Boys?

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Close. Just "Little Boys".

Desert Ag said:

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BadMoonRisin said:

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Three Little Boys?

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Close. Just "Little Boys".

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aggiehawg said:

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Dorm 15 said:

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Why Los Alamos?

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Oppenheimer lived in Albuquerque and thought the Sangre de Cristo mountains would be private and far enough removed to maintain the secrecy needed.

His idea.

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During his late teenage years Oppenheimer was sickly and his father sent him to a "school" in what became Los Alamos. Indeed he liked the area.

BadMoonRisin said:

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Is it possible that she is confounding the Manhattan Project with some aspects of Operation Paperclip?

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Could be but... I'm not sitting down for a 3 hour movie about Wernher von Braun.

Although it could be interesting, I don't think they'd get much funding for a movie where the one of the early achievements of the protagonist is terror attacks on London.

AgGrad99 said:

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My HS son took a dual credit, college History course last summer.

It was so ridiculous, I ended up auditing it with him. It should have been renamed 'Racial History of the United States', because that's all it dealt with. As an example, the section on WWII didnt mention Hitler one time, in any of the study material, quizzes or tests. Not once. Every section was like this. Very little actual historical knowledge, just information about how groups were negatively affected socially.

I was bothered by the material, because it was severely lacking actual historical information. As a result, I did some quick research on the book/author and found out it was the #1 history curriculum used in High School and college currently.

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My sons took similar classes, absolute garbage. Both are history buffs, my 16 year old came up to ME and said how he wanted to go see Oppenheimer and he was more excited about it than Mission Impossible or any of the other stuff out there. Both of them just eye rolled through History Class, got their A's, and tried not to laugh at the joke they teach now.

I remember when I was in HS we didn't necessarily talk about Oppenheimer (the Fat Man and Little Boy movie seemed to really boost his profile) but we talked a lot about the morality of the bomb. Even did a "Mock Trial" where I volunteered to play Harry Truman with the case being about whether or not he should have dropped the bomb. My approach was "no brainer" because of ending the war and the lives that would have been lost with a Japanese invasion, not to mention the technology was coming either way. Had a few kids that voted to "convict" me but most agreed.

Desert Ag said:

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Can't help but share one of my favorite pics of my two oldest boys circa 1995.

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me the one and only perfect caption for this.

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Three little boys in a museum.

I was watching the Alamo with my wife's cousin (Texas raised) and as we watched character after character die, it dawns on her that the Texans aren't going to win . . .




It was hilarious and heart breaking at the same time.

TexasRebel said:

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Desert Ag said:

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Can't help but share one of my favorite pics of my two oldest boys circa 1995.

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me the one and only perfect caption for this.

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Three little boys in a museum.

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Well done sir. Well done.