Posted: 1/3/2006 3:41:42 PM EDT
| I just found out that the school I'm attending offers a history class called History of WWII. I looked at the required text books, and they included Band of Brothers, Ghost Soldiers, among others. I've read all those books before, and I bet I'd just love the class however there's a catch. The teacher is a super liberal. I don't want such an awesome class being spoiled by a snot-nozed dumbass anti-bush college professor. Should I take the class or wait until it's taught by someone else? |
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You might be pleasantly surprised. WWII is looked at by many people as our last "good" war. It was the good fight against two known evils. As long as the topic stays away from the atomic bombs as much as possible it might be ok. I had a class about WWII taught by a guy who was doing it as a tribute to his Dad who had just died and was a WWII vet, wounded in Europe. The guy was pretty Liberal, but his biggest beef about everything was the way Hollywood always depicted war movies as either love stories or "American sprays the hillsides with his Thompson and 30 Japanese die" type thing (kind of like WindTalkers). He felt they weren't gritty enough in their depictions of how ugly war was. He thought that a true war movie was along the lines of "When Trumpets Fade". That was realism to him. You know, entire division of GI's held up by 2 German SP guns. This was about the time that "Saving Private Ryan" came out, he refused to see it because from what he'd heard it was to much Hollywood (it pretty much was). Anyway, it turned out to be a good class. I've always thought of myself as being a real history buff, maybe even an amateur historian. But there were a couple of guys in that class that had me in awe. Damn, one of these days when I grow up I want to *really* know what I'm talking about, like those two guys. I say take the class, if nothing else it'll be interesting just to see what kind of spin, if any, he or she puts on things. |
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A strong dislike of the GOP/Bush does not automatically imply incompetence at military history. The chap who occasionally allows me to give tours at Littlefield's museum is an author named Michael Green. He has a large number of books out, almost entirely on military subjects. He detests Bush with a passion, but does not allow this to interfere with his writings or talks on issues which have nothing to do with current-day politics. Take the class. Easy credits, if you know your stuff. NTM |
Well, 6th Panzer Division was held up by a single KV-1 tank for about 18 hours, if I recall. They just couldn't kill the bloody thing, it was parked on a road on terrain which wasn't conducive to going around it. I seem to recall it finally took satchel charges. NTM |
true enough, but the rumor is that he can't help but keep politics out of the class, although in a history class current politics can be discussed in the context of history, so I don't know if it's un-needed comments. Still, I may take the class next time it's offered, I already have a history class for this quarter. |
Sure, and there are other instances of the same sort of thing throughout the war. If you haven't seen it, watch the movie and you'll see what I mean. I did not mean to imply it was a bad movie, 'cause it wasn't. I just found it funny that the instructor thought *this* movie was a realistic depiction of war but Saving Private Ryan was all Hollywood. |
| Take it. My son took a class in his senior year in high school that was taught by a very liberal teacher. He argued with him everyday. Did a book report on Michael Savages book and still got an A. The teacher did not let his views interfere with grading my son's work. That is a good teacher. Teacher is still a liberal and my son is now in the 82nd Airborne. |
| I'd say wait. I've suffered through a few classes taught by wackos. The first one I tried to be a voice of reason in.. Barely passed. The second I just sat through and bit my tongue. Did ok there. Never put yourself in the position of being beholden to a moron for a grade if you can avoid it. |
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