H.S. graduates don't know what Atari is

[CosmicJoke]

I really think this topic should be moved to Off-Topic

 

With that being said, I agree with Room34. There is way too much focus on war in the teaching of History in High School. I am not sure why this and it really shouldn't be this way.

 

Most of the people you(Room34) mentioned I really didn't learn about until college. I think that, perhaps, educators may have thought that in the past these historical figures you mention presented ideas too complicated for those in High School? I don't think this is true, but, maybe they did. Kids NEED to be exposed to the teachings of those thinkers/philosophers you mentioned. They NEED to know about and experience those artists/musicians and inventors you mentioned. I think that the educational system believes that these things will be learned about in college.

 

Well, that is just my opinion This has become a very interesting topic!

[Room 34]

Maybe you're right that kids can't fully understand some of these topics until college. But if you can't understand the basics of the foundational philosophers (Socrates/Plato and Aristotle), how can you be expected to really understand the complexities and motivations of warfare?

 

By the time kids get to the age where they are treated like they can understand philosophy and the arts, they have already been indoctrinated into an over-simplified, blind-nationalism-inducing, ethnically-biased understanding of war history. I think a lot of the time they are so wholly absorbed in an over-simplified worldview that they may never be able to appreciate the philosophical ideas that should have been the underpinnings of their entire education. With apologies to war history buffs out there, but I find that seriously f***ed up!

 

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates (via Plato)

 

Oh... and, uh... Yars' Revenge kicks ass! (Sorry... had to stay on-topic. )

[KAZ]

Atari is not dead....not even close.

 

Atari I'd liken to Mozart.

 

Tho mozart was pretty popular when he was living, but when he died...that's when people really started to like him. As time grew on, people found out why they appreciated his music.

 

What I'm trying to say is that in 200 hundred years, people will still be playing Atari. Um, yeah...that's exactly the point.

[CosmicJoke]

room34:

Oh... and, uh... Yars' Revenge kicks ass! (Sorry... had to stay on-topic.  )

 

Right on!

 

 

 

I agree with you. Unfortunately, out of the myriad philosophies, which do you teach? There are a few philosophies I don't agree with and a hugh number that I do agree with. Who decides which philosophies are appropriate?

 

I would have appreciated High School more if I had been taught any of these things.

 

Oops, edited to add more

 

You are right though at the very least the philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle should be taught. They were ultimately responsible for laying the foundation of Western thought.

[AtariKen64]

Blix said something about his younger cousin wearing an atai shirt and it reminds me yet again of my fav simpsons episode where homer tries toy "party" with his kids only to find out he isnt cool any more..

 

"i see these kids with jive printed on their shirts, now ill show ya how to jive man!!"

 

"i used to be with it , then they changed what it was, and what was it seems weird and scary to me and it will happen to you"

 

the sad thing is that episode features sonic youth and smashing pumpkins, two bands i worshiped as a teenager in the early 90s and now none of the kids know of them (though in 93 i doubt anyone form my H.S. cept me knew anyway!)

 

also keep in mind pop culture isnt taught to the youngins, like american history is, sure ***some*** kids (like me when i was one) could name all 39 (it was then!) presidents but who was taught all the # 1 songs from 1970-1999? all i can remeber is my sharona was in 1979!

 

of course we all know pop music is terrible anyways!!

 

anyways its just a fact of life that things we hold dear will not likley move on to the next generation

 

will the class of 2010 remeber sega genesis? or will it go back to being the first book of the bible???

 

ah well what do the "cool kids" know anyways

 

im gona play atari forever, forever for...ever

[Room 34]

I agree with you. Unfortunately, out of the myriad philosophies, which do you teach?

 

Oops... at first I thought you were being literal, and I was going to explain that I am not actually a teacher! I was going to be a music teacher, but I saw how much political BS goes on in the school (and how stupid most of the other people in the Ed. program at my college were) and I gave up just before my student teaching semester!

 

I would have appreciated High School more if I had been taught any of these things.

 

I was lucky enough to take a class in my senior year that introduced us to a lot of the basics... we read some Plato (that's where I first encountered the "unexamined life" quote) and bits and pieces of more modern stuff. It was a generic "humanities" class though, not philosophy per se. But still, it was too little too late, and only the college-bound people in the school bothered to take it anyway.

 

You are right though at the very least the philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle should be taught.  They were ultimately responsible for laying the foundation of Western thought.

 

Yeah... I'm just talking about foundational stuff early on. Philosophy that has been around long enough to have a clear historical significance. I'd like to see some Eastern philosophy taught as well: some Taoism, Buddhism -- not the "religion" of these ideas but their foundational philosophies.

 

P.S. Star Ship sucks!

[mos6507]

I think the problem with history is that textbooks emphasize stuff from 30+ years ago.

 

Especially when dealing with the history of inventions, when they get to computers you'll be lucky if any textbooks even mention the microcomputer revolution. It will be all stuff about mainframes.

 

Sure, a lot of textbooks are old, but there is also this notion that a significant amount of time has to pass before we can write about it. Like it has to ferment or something.

 

But there has been SUCH an acceleration in technological development in the last 30 years that you need to cover the major milestones completely regardless of how closely-spaced they are. These milestones change the way we live as much if not more than the bread and butter geopolitical history topics. Maybe to the textbook authors 20years ago is still strong in memory but not to today's kids. Today's kids live on top of the foundation of history and they deserve to know how we got here instead of just taking it all for granted.

 

I think GenXers (as most of us here on AtariAge are) must feel this sense of responsibility more than others due to the particular timing of our agegroup in relation to these events. We've had several revolutions in high tech since I was born in 1970. The introduction of the microprocessor, the initial exploitation of that in the first wave of home computers and video games, the second wave of PCs which have revolutionized the office, and now the internet (in addition to the modern sub $1000 PC) which has broken down the final barriers that prevented the PC from becoming a mainstream household appliance.

 

I'm not saying Atari should be a whole chapter, but it did have an important role to play in all this.

 

People forget how radical a concept videogame consoles were in the early days, and how Sears put the 2600 into sporting goods. There was a shift in mindthink in the late 70s and early 80s. The videogame revolution was the training wheels where us kids acclimated ourselves to the growing pervasiveness of computers in our lives, and many of us then went on to be the programmers and the dot commers of today.

 

Unfortunately even computer history books that do cover recent history tend to mention Steve Jobs and MAYBE the C=64 but never write a word about Atari.

 

That's the reason why I did Stella at 20. Since at the time nobody was really treating this stuff as history worth researching.