Hello Edward: Thank you for posting a copy of your letter to the list so we could have the facts of this discussion without wondering what had been said. You have been very helpful to me in understanding the elements of this war as it related to my great grandfather there in North Carolina and I appreciate your contributions to the discussions here. However, I understand and also appreciate your reticence to enter into debates online that are opinion heavy and fact light. They offer no assistance to genealogy or history studies and steal precious time as I hopefully read them instead of deleting them unread as I would regular spam. Is it truly necesssary for a discussion of possible ways to help teachers with facts about the civil war to degenerate into opinions about the war? It seems to me that if such postings are totally ignored and just deleted by everyone, they soon cease. Am I being naive? Personally, I'm much less interested in the 'cause' of an historical event than I am in the experience of the people involved in it. Guess I'm just a people person.... Saralie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edward Harding" <eharding2@cox.net> To: <CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 7:53 AM Subject: Fw: [CIVIL-WAR] Proper Education > > Sharon, I apologize that the email I sent went to you privately instead of > to the list, which was my intent. Just so all can read what my email was, > I'm forwarding it to the list. > > In no way did I mean to sound rude. I just truly believe education to our > youth is important, and history should be taught from FACTS, not > interpretations or revised history. I apologize to you and the members of > the list for even bringing this up. > > Edward > > > My posting to this list about educating our children with facts, not > > revisionists history was in no means something to spur any kind of debate. > > When I speak of wanting to help educators teach about the War, my > intention > > was to seek help for our educators...something people are so unwilling to > do > > now....people helping them learn little known and seldom taught facts > about > > the War to help broaden the minds of our youth. > > > > Yes, I have seen a number of history books which students in North > Carolina > > have been taught from. Too many actual facts are left out, only to be > > replaced by generalizations from our modern day historians. Yes, I have > > seen a lot of "revised history" and I for one truly believe our children > > should be taught facts......and firsthand diaries, manuscripts, etc, > should > > be implemented in these studies. The good and bad from both North and > > South should be taught, but from sources which are unbiased (and yes, you > > can find unbiased sources). > > > > Sharon, if you want to start a debate over this, that is your prerogative, > > but I won't be a part of it. All I was attempting to do was to get > people > > with a very good factual knowledge of this War to volunteer some time to > > help our educators. That's it, period. > > > > In my talks to school classes, I have spoken of the good and bad from BOTH > > sides in the War, trying to show how horrible this time in history > > was.....and I did it with Facts....not my own interpretation of how I > think > > things should have been. > > > > There is absolutely no need to debate what is fact and what is revised > > history. I've read books with both, and I'll stick to the ones with the > > FACTS. > > > > I will watch to see if this turns into a debate, and if it does turn into > > one like some I've seen in the past, I will most certainly contact Mr. > Ruddy > > and unsubscribe from this list as I don't want to be bombarded in email > with > > a lot of "what ifs?" Everyone has their own opinion, and even though I > am > > Southern, I honestly try to teach what actually DID happen, and not what I > > or anyone else wishes happened. No matter if it's this War, the Mexican > > War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc., the facts should be taught, not > > someone's interpretation of what they THINK happened. > > > > As the old saying goes, "If we don't learn from history, it's bound to > > repeat itself." > > > > Edward > > > > > > ==== CIVIL-WAR Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from list mode, email CIVIL-WAR-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com > and in the text area of the message, type only the word > unsubscribe > >