i would wager less than 25% of kids would remember who he was and what he was involved in even if taught in high school. Out of sight out of mind, especially if you're not into history lessons.
HollywoodBQ said:
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.
I'm ready! Let's do it!hph6203 said:
Can we talk about whether our English classes are teaching us everything we need to know next?
Daddy said:HollywoodBQ said:
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.
In this regardd you fiailed us father and that's why you know this so did many of us like seriously busting your ass to make sure she has the best money to go buy the best education the best education comes from home and that creates your father everyday I say you know what I need to spend more time with my kids I'm not let society YouTube TV the radio and definitely not Mark 16 spend hundreds of thousands of dollars online
hph6203 said:
Can we talk about whether our English classes are teaching us everything we need to know next?
GH '91 (this is the wedding I was in the Saber Arch for)Apache said:Quote:
Went to A&M with two guys from GonzaleS
Wish you had stars so you could tell me their names.... pretty sure I would know them
Initials & the year they graduated HS would probably be enough though.
Edit - just saw that you were at A&M 30 years ago, so I would definitely know them. Was probably at the wedding you went to.
This is why when we went to Stuttgart, West Germany and saw my dad's old Army barracks and his favorite Gasthaus, he took us to see what was left of the bridge at Remagen.Buck Turgidson said:Good point - there are certain things that I just take upon myself to make sure my kids know. The schools can't cover everything, and your kids won't remember all of what they do cover in school. In my case, I'm trying to double up on math and also fill in the missing gaps so that they get something closer to a classical education. Guess I should add the Manhattan project to the list as well.Viper16 said:
Don't take this the wrong way Hollywood BQ, but what did you teach your child about US History over the years?
Since my daughter went to VMI - she's well aware.UTExan said:
Or do our kids know that this government still celebrates the Nazi scientists it imported during Operation Paperclip while trying to erase Confederate names from history?
93MarineHorn said:
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.
Yes, Yes, Yes, 1000% Yes.Ag_of_08 said:
Schools are too busy sticking coaches who know NOTHING about history in classrooms and ignoring the massive deficiencies in basic historical education, just as l9ng as little Johnny can play some by-god football
They only cared if he was also a Confederate.H2Ag said:
Yeah while they were changing names I think they forgot the nazi with a large office complex at Redstone arsenal. On second thought maybe they agree with his earlier leanings?
Did you use GPTChat to write that?Daddy said:
In this regardd you fiailed us father and that's why you know this so did many of us like seriously busting your ass to make sure she has the best money to go buy the best education the best education comes from home and that creates your father everyday I say you know what I need to spend more time with my kids I'm not let society YouTube TV the radio and definitely not Mark 16 spend hundreds of thousands of dollars online
How about the number of times I need to correct the Autocorrect?hph6203 said:
Can we talk about whether our English classes are teaching us everything we need to know next?
I do remember the Bicentennial vividly.aggiejayrod said:
To be fair, when you had history class, there were like 50 years of US history for them to teach.
TxSquarebody said:
aggiehawg said:Oppenheimer lived in Albuquerque and thought the Sangre de Cristo mountains would be private and far enough removed to maintain the secrecy needed.Dorm 15 said:
Why Los Alamos?
His idea.
Zarathustra said:
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.
Dorm 15 said: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.aggiehawg said:Oppenheimer lived in Albuquerque and thought the Sangre de Cristo mountains would be private and far enough removed to maintain the secrecy needed.Dorm 15 said:
Why Los Alamos?
His idea.
Definitely Not A Cop said:aggiehawg said:Oppenheimer lived in Albuquerque and thought the Sangre de Cristo mountains would be private and far enough removed to maintain the secrecy needed.Dorm 15 said:
Why Los Alamos?
His idea.
Wasn't their original operation in Chicago? How quickly did they move out there?
Having worked with a drug kingpin's daughter in Sydney, I can say that I've always let my kids know exactly what I do for a living and even taken them to work a few times.fc2112 said:
My kids know a lot about the Manhattan Project. But then again, what I do for a living...
Yeah but you're practically a local.CanyonAg77 said:
My kids know about the Manhattan Project, but then, their mom works in the weapons complex, and I'm a buff of the history.
When I was in Los Alamos a few weeks ago, they were already bracing for a flood of tourists that they expected to begin showing up after the movie.
The historic society now owns the house Oppenheimer lived in (on Bathtub Row) but it needs a few million in repairs before it can have visitors
fc2112 said:
My kids know a lot about the Manhattan Project. But then again, what I do for a living...
85aggie777 said:
My kids know quite a lot about him because their grandparents (my husband's parents) met when they were both stationed at Los Alamos when they were in the Army during WWII! My mother-in-law was in the WAC driver pool and drove several of the scientists and generals on and off the base (though never Oppenheimer). My father-in-law worked in administration and witnessed the first test explosion. They had great stories to tell.
They got married right after the war. I often tell people that my husband and sons wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for the creation of "the bomb!"
hph6203 said:
Can we talk about whether our English classes are teaching us everything we need to know next?
Quote:
I am become death
Destroyer of worlds.