World History
8 Important Lessons Learned from '80s Cartoons. Maybe this article is not history related but I think it is. What lessons did the cartoons from the '80s, (The Smurfs, G.I. Joe, He-Man, and The Transformers) teach children? Several cartoons seem to teach lessons which can be applied to history.
Here are a few:
CARTOON: The Smurfs, LESSON: Communism works! The 20th century showed repeatedly that communism is a miserable failure. It does not provide economic security for people and often results in famine due to mismanaged agriculture. Further, human rights such as religious freedom suffer. But hey, communism worked for the Smurfs! I wonder if this show was the genesis of the newest crop of American communists?
CARTOON: G.I. Joe, LESSON: Knowing is half the battle. Or, as the article notes, "Actually, we?re pretty certain that our strategy for the Iraq War was conceived after a two day long G.I. Joe marathon in the Pentagon. They just implicitly trusted that the good guys were going to win, that firing off our guns would make the bad guys run for the caves and that giving everyone cute nicknames was somehow endearing."
CARTOON: Transformers, LESSON: If we?re not careful, robots will kill us all. This is probably good advice for the future. Robots may yet be our doom.
I wonder what the current crop of cartoons are teaching children. As my sons watch TV, how are they being possibly indoctrinated? I note that the Teletubbies live in a totalitarian state...
- Mrdonn.org
Looking for lots of free K-12 history lessons plans? MrDonn.org is the place as it has hundreds of history and social studies related lesson plans. Also included is lesson plans relating to mythology and free PowerPoint presentations ready to be adapted...
- Happy May Day
Today is May Day. Through much of history, this has been a mostly benevolent holiday celebrating pagan traditions or those who labor. However, in the 20th century, May Day became a Communist spectacle where the military might of communist nations was...
- The Failure Of Balkan Communism And The Causes Of The Revolutions Of 1989
The failure of Balkan Communism and the causes of the Revolutions of 1989. Steve Sowards of Michigan State University has this lecture up on the failure of communism in the Balkans. It is part of a larger Twenty-Five Lectures on Modern Balkans History....
- Resources For American Independence Day
July 4th will be Independence Day in the USA. It will be the 230th anniversary of the official birth of the country. To encourage research on this topic, I have compiled (with help from the DMOZ) a list of websites which are useful for finding information...
- Primary Sources: Teaching Students To Think
Stanford University has created over 75 lessons for high schools based entirely on primary documents. No textbooks, no lectures. The lessons are all about diaries, journals, pictures, documents, speeches, songs and photographs. The lessons are all in...
World History
8 Important Lessons Learned from '80s Cartoons
8 Important Lessons Learned from '80s Cartoons. Maybe this article is not history related but I think it is. What lessons did the cartoons from the '80s, (The Smurfs, G.I. Joe, He-Man, and The Transformers) teach children? Several cartoons seem to teach lessons which can be applied to history.Here are a few:
CARTOON: The Smurfs, LESSON: Communism works! The 20th century showed repeatedly that communism is a miserable failure. It does not provide economic security for people and often results in famine due to mismanaged agriculture. Further, human rights such as religious freedom suffer. But hey, communism worked for the Smurfs! I wonder if this show was the genesis of the newest crop of American communists?
CARTOON: G.I. Joe, LESSON: Knowing is half the battle. Or, as the article notes, "Actually, we?re pretty certain that our strategy for the Iraq War was conceived after a two day long G.I. Joe marathon in the Pentagon. They just implicitly trusted that the good guys were going to win, that firing off our guns would make the bad guys run for the caves and that giving everyone cute nicknames was somehow endearing."
CARTOON: Transformers, LESSON: If we?re not careful, robots will kill us all. This is probably good advice for the future. Robots may yet be our doom.
I wonder what the current crop of cartoons are teaching children. As my sons watch TV, how are they being possibly indoctrinated? I note that the Teletubbies live in a totalitarian state...
- Mrdonn.org
Looking for lots of free K-12 history lessons plans? MrDonn.org is the place as it has hundreds of history and social studies related lesson plans. Also included is lesson plans relating to mythology and free PowerPoint presentations ready to be adapted...
- Happy May Day
Today is May Day. Through much of history, this has been a mostly benevolent holiday celebrating pagan traditions or those who labor. However, in the 20th century, May Day became a Communist spectacle where the military might of communist nations was...
- The Failure Of Balkan Communism And The Causes Of The Revolutions Of 1989
The failure of Balkan Communism and the causes of the Revolutions of 1989. Steve Sowards of Michigan State University has this lecture up on the failure of communism in the Balkans. It is part of a larger Twenty-Five Lectures on Modern Balkans History....
- Resources For American Independence Day
July 4th will be Independence Day in the USA. It will be the 230th anniversary of the official birth of the country. To encourage research on this topic, I have compiled (with help from the DMOZ) a list of websites which are useful for finding information...
- Primary Sources: Teaching Students To Think
Stanford University has created over 75 lessons for high schools based entirely on primary documents. No textbooks, no lectures. The lessons are all about diaries, journals, pictures, documents, speeches, songs and photographs. The lessons are all in...