J.L. Gaddis, The Cold War

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Hello, Dimitri?

John Lewis Gaddis' The Cold War: A New History is a nice thematic introduction to the subject. If one is hung-up on chronology, this is not your book. But if you enjoy an author taking themes and weaving them in and out, then Gaddis is for you.

Video and Music Ideas for Teaching the Cold War 

I previously mentioned a couple of Twilight Zone episodes that would be suitable for this era. I didn't mention two real obvious additional choices: "The Shelter" deals with how neighbors and friends treat each other when shelter grows scarce once the Russians launch an attack on the U.S. More about the nature of the human heart and how people deal with crises and our human limits, but the bomb shelter is a nice background.  "Time Enough at Last" is really not about the Cold War or a nuclear holocaust at all but about what makes life ultimately worth living. Fans of J.P. Sartre may be saddened to see his "hell is other people" remark get turned on its head, but others may love the poetic justice. Man does not live by bread (or books) alone.

Video Clips (tbd)

Here's one I haven't found on YouTube: From Whit Stillman's Barcelona: The scene where Lt.(jg) Fred Boynton discovers that there is anti-NATO sentiment in Spain and asks, What are they for? Soviet troops racing across Europe, eating the croissants?  Pure genius!

Music 

Coming in at just over 8 minutes The Waterboys' "Red Army Blues" is a heart-breaking but eye-opening narrative about a Russian lad who enlists to fight the Huns and is eventually shipped to Siberia and work and rot -- "all because Comrade Stalin says we've become too 'Westernized'"

I would be remiss in not including the Sex Pistols' "Holidays in the Sun" which though convoluted is interesting with its references to going over the Berlin Wall. Then there's The Call's "War Weary World" which is much deeper than the peppy music would imply.  Or one that the "rads" in erstwhile West Germany seemed to love: Nena's "99 Luftballons" (which loses some but not much of its pathos the English version). 

For lovers of the surreal: Camper Van Beethoven, "Sweethearts".  Who can resist a song that mentions Dixon (CA)? And finally, U2's "Seconds." 

Hidden Curriculum, Hidden Anthropology (Phase I)

I. Critical Pedagogy and Hidden Curriculum

Promoters of "critical pedagogy" sometimes speak of the "hidden" curriculum that is present and assumed within the public or overt teaching that happens day-to-day. Joan Wink writes: "The hidden curriculum is the unexpressed perpetuation of dominant culture through institutional processes" (Critical Pedagogy, p. 46). Wink gives a good example of some Native American kids who think Thanksgiving is the celebration of when white guys taught the Indians how to farm! One could argue that what these students expressed is less about what goes at school than what is received as common "wisdom" from a multiplicity of sources (friends, family, media, etc.). But I digress.

Suffice to say that teachers and schools communicate far more than what is said or read in school. Education is always an "incomplete" process, of course, but what happens when entire fields of human knowledge are ignored? What might one call that? Hmm, unexamined subjects. Perhaps Unsub could be the Newspeak word. Or perhaps the omission of certain subjects are the result of the "hidden anthropology" of public education?

An East German soldier seeks an absent good
What's lacking in the American curriculum?

II. Hidden Anthropology - An Initial Sketch 

If one were to examine K-12 state standards (or Common Core) and ask, "What is omitted?" one would discover some interesting things. First, by "what is omitted?" I mean, What is a substantial field of human knowledge that is neglected or disproportionately small in the curriculum? The next step is to ask, "What do these omissions suggest about the nature of the human person that is assumed by the absence of these subject areas in the curriculum?"

A Premise. This may be so obvious as to seem unnecessary to state: Important things ought to be taught. This statement seems platitudinous, after all, who will argue that education ought to consist in the communication of trivia and frivolity? Hopefully no one. However, this premise could have transformative implications for the public school curriculum if it were taken seriously.

Fields of Knowledge versus State Standards. This is where "Phase II" comes into play. To find the missing like and hence the hidden anthropology. Stay tuned for details.