Our Vanishing History |

November 8, 2014

Do Your Children Think Churchill is a Bulldog?

This may seem like an absurd question, but think again.

In England, a teacher named Katharine Birbalsingh spoke of her students, teenagers who think “Churchill” is an animated dog of the same name appearing in a television advertisement for an insurance company.

Why would a fourteen-year-old student think that one of England’s greatest Prime Ministers is a dog?

Birbalsingh blamed failed teaching methods which consider facts, figures, and basic knowledge to be “old-fashioned.” The Guardian, a British newspaper, conducted a survey of young adults, ages 18-24. Less than a third identified Winston Churchill as the Prime Minister who served before 1945.

You may say, “This took place in Britain, what does this have to do with the U.S.?”

In fact, quite a lot. Recently I spoke to a friend of mine, a bright, serious high school student. He is exactly what you would hope a student would be, interested and diligent regarding his studies. I told him the story about British students unfamiliar with the legacy of Winston Churchill. Then I asked him, “Have you and your classmates learned about Churchill in school?” My question drew a blank stare. I was disappointed but not surprised.

American schools, like those in Britain, have been subjected to the pernicious notion that history doesn’t matter.

In recent weeks, much attention has been drawn to the protest of World War II veterans angry over attempts to close the monument to World War II Veterans in Washington, D.C. While many Americans rallied behind the veterans, there were pundits and comedians who mocked elderly World War II veterans because they were no longer young or because their heroism and sacrifice occurred many years ago.

Why is it important that children today learn about leaders such as Winston Churchill or Dwight Eisenhower and what they achieved during the Second World War?

It seems incredible that such a question must be asked, let alone answered. World War II was a conflict which resulted in the loss of millions of lives. There are disturbing parallels between events which led up to the war and events taking place today. The resolution of the war resulted in relationships among nations which still have an effect today. One obvious struggle that dominated the world for decades after World War II was the Cold War.

George Santayana famously advised us that if we do not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them.

James C. Humes is a prominent author, former presidential speech writer, professor, and public speaker. But in 1953, while a student at the Stowe School, Humes made a trip to England where he accomplished the unthinkable: he dance with the young queen Elizabeth II and met Winston Churchill. Churchill advised him, “Young man, study, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.”

Humes went on to become an expert of the life of Churchill, writing several books about him, emphasizing not only his incredible war time achievements, but his masterful use of the English language. He reminds us of Churchill’s most famous speech, defiant and determined in the face of a seemingly invincible Nazi onslaught during the Battle of Britain.

Churchill told the British people and the world, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.” Churchill was in the midst of trying to obtain support from his ally, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Humes asks, “But what if Churchill had said, ‘Hostilities will be engaged on the coastal perimeter.’ Do you think America would have sent aid? “

CBS Radio correspondent Edward R. Murrow said of Churchill, “He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle to steady his fellow countrymen and hearten those Europeans on whom the long, dark night of tyranny had descended.” In short, Churchill spoke the language of leadership.

Humes’ point is that we can learn much by studying the qualities of a successful leader. This is in addition to our need to understand the fundamentally important events that changed the world as a result of such leadership. Consider the role of America’s generals during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, and George S. Patton.

What would the result of World War II have been without these men? What would have happened if the Axis (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) had defeated the Allies and dominated the world?

It is shocking beyond belief that children today are not taught about the great events of history.

it is perfectly natural for children to think that the only important things that take place in life are happening today. It is even more natural if they have reached their teenage years and are rebelling against anything told to them or taught to them by adults. They may be convinced that the only things that matter are those relating to themselves and their friends, but we must never accept such notions and they need to be taught why such an attitude is destructive and dangerous.

Comedians who mock World War II veterans are more than disrespectful. They are advertising their own ignorance, because if it had not been for these veterans, the freedom of speech that we treasure and that makes their livelihood possible might have vanished from the face of the earth.

The idea that children think “Churchill” is the name of a dog may seem amusing, but upon serious consideration, it isn’t remotely funny.

Human nature rarely changes. By studying history, as Churchill advised, we can learn which actions have been founded upon wisdom and which have been founded upon ignorance. When Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, returned from attending the infamous conference at Munich, he arrived carrying an umbrella and waving a piece of paper that he said would guarantee “peace in our time.” Chamberlain was greeting by cheering crowds. It was Churchill who seem out of place, out of touch, and pursuing a lost cause as he denounced efforts to appease Hitler. The world would soon learn who was right.

Do your children know the name of Winston Churchill? Do they know the names of other important figures and leaders who helped win World War II? They should!

If they don’t, you must help them learn an important lesson: what happened yesterday has a profound effect on what happens today and what will happen tomorrow.

What can you do if you are a parent, grandparent, or anyone interested in seeing that our history doesn’t fade into oblivion? Click here for guidelines to a plan of action.

Joy of Music |

November 8, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Do Your Children Think Beethoven is a Saint Bernard?

You may be tempted to shout, “Of course not!” But think again.

Beethoven was a popular 1992 film about a giant St. Bernard that was named after the legendary composer. The film found such a large audience that a sequel was produced and titled Beethoven’s 2nd. If your children aren’t encountering classical music, they may well think that “Beethoven” is the name of the dog or the movie in which he starred.

Nor is classical music the only genre of music your children and grandchildren may be missing. Jazz, classic film scores, and pieces from the Great American Songbook are also likely to be ignored. There are reasons for this and it is essential that you understand them so that you help members of your family experience the joy of real music.

Today the classical music world is in turmoil.

Major symphony orchestras have simply been dissolved for financial reasons. The legendary New York City Opera filed for bankruptcy. These are events that would have seemed unthinkable only a few years ago. While public broadcasting stations broadcast classical concerts on occasion, classic musicians almost never perform on commercial television.

A few classical superstars are well-known to the public as celebrities, but by and large, classical music has become a niche appealing to an increasingly aging audience.

Classical music is simply irrelevant to the pervasive pop culture.

The causes of this sad state of affairs are many. In the years following World War I, many composers of concert music began rejecting many of the traditional values of melody, harmony, and rhythm, substituting intellectual theories for creativity and imagination. (The distinguished American symphony composer Roy Harris once asked, “Without melody, harmony, or rhythm, what do they have left?”

The result is that many in the classical music audience developed a dislike for modern concert music and actually try to avoid hearing it performed. They will go to great lengths to achieve this, arriving late or leaving early if a modern work is on the program. There are producers of classical music concerts who actually tell visiting artists, “Don’t perform anything written after 1920.” Since virtually all of the music written by living composers was written after 1920, this effectively closes the door of opportunity for anyone trying to write symphonies, operas, or chamber music today.

While the classical music world seems to be withering on the vine for lack of funds, the same cannot be said for the world of popular music.

Beginning in the late 1950’s with the advent of rock ‘n’ roll, continuing in the 1960’s with the so-called “British invasion,” rock record promoters essentially took over the world of popular music and turned it into a multi-billion dollar colossus. With a fortune to be made in selling recordings to teenagers, these promoters generated enormous pressure in every genre of music imaginable. Composers of film music were pressured to produce scores that could appeal to a huge teenage audience. Broadway producers scrambled to present musical theater productions that could be perceived as “contemporary,” This usually meant that they were looking for so-called “rock operas” that could appeal to the same audience. Jazz musicians were privately conflicted about the advent of rock. Some saw it as a threat to real jazz and recognized the rock stars as charlatans who typically knew four chords and couldn’t sing without massive amplification and groups of gyrating backup singers. But others were quick to seize the commercial opportunity to jump aboard a commercial bandwagon and hence “jazz-rock” was born.

Today, young audiences interested in popular music are likely to be listening to rock, pop, or rap, with an occasional country recording thrown in for good measure. So while classical music is directed at an increasingly smaller and self-styled elite audience, popular music has abandoned all pretense of artistry in pursuit of the fast buck. This situation has been made more egregious by critics and academics who want to be perceived as contemporary and are quick to lend their credentials to the latest fads.

What are the genres of popular music that are in danger of fading into oblivion?

Labeling musical genres can be tricky and frequently inaccurate.

Jazz is an American musical treasure, essentially produced through simultaneous composition and performance. Many of the finest jazz musicians have been classically trained, but there are countless classical artists who cannot improvise a note and can only play what has been put before them on a printed page.

There was a golden age of film scoring, beginning in the 1930s and running through the 1960s. This doesn’t mean that there haven’t been fine scores written since then, but the music of the golden age is often released today on CD by so-called boutique labels in small and limited editions.

During the first half of the 20th century, with work continuing into the 1960s, an incredibly gifted group of composers and lyricists created what we have come to call “The Great American Song Book.” Their works found a home on Broadway with the creation of a distinctly American musical theater, in musical motion pictures, and in the mythical street address known as “Tin Pan Alley.” Well-crafted melodies bursting with musical expression and sophisticated lyrics were the hallmark of these musical pioneers.

In today’s world of digital downloads, I-Pads, smart phones, and mobile devices of every type, what passes for music is often simplistic amplified noise accompanying crude and occasionally obscene lyrics. But this is the throbbing sound of the pop culture. Too many teachers have fallen prey to the notion that to capture the attention of their students, they need to communicate with them on their own level and hope that they will discover other types of music as they mature. There are teachers, let alone students, who show no signs of maturing.

If your children and grandchildren are introduced to the best classical and popular music early in their lives, they will be provided with a standard for comparison. As they grow, they are far less likely to fall prey to ghastly influences in the age of MTV. You can do this for them and discover a treasure trove of new music that can impact your life as well.

All it takes is a sense of resolve to discover the joy of music together. So when your children (and the children they may have one day) hear the name Beethoven, they will first think of the composer after whom the St. Bernard was named.

Are you certain that your you and your family will have the opportunity to encounter the best of our musical heritage? To find out what you can do to make sure that the answer to this question is “yes,” click here

The Opportunity |

November 8, 2014

| by Mark Evans

What is Cultural Conservation?

Cultural Conservation is truly a philosophy, a mindset, a movement, and an organization.

It is a philosophy that stresses the value of conserving what is important in our society and recognizing that conservation doesn’t take place by accident.We have magnificent national parks today, but these parks might not even exist were it not for the efforts of conservationists to preserve them.

Cultural Conservation is a mindset, an understanding of the difference between change and progress, between new and improved, between eternal truths, timeless values, and the fashions and fads of the moment.

Cultural Conservation is a movement because it encourages and inspires us to work together to preserve the best of our culture and to see that this legacy is passed on from one generation to the next.

Finally, Cultural Conservation is an organization dedicated to the principle that we should preserve our cultural resources with the same enthusiasm and care that we devote to our natural resources.

You may ask “what does all this have to do with me?” More than you might ever imagine!

We live in a time of great problems and huge challenges; there are issues of war, peace, economic confusion, terrorism, diseases in need of cures, and a huge technological revolution that occasionally makes us feel as if the world is being taken over by computers. In times like these, elements of culture, especially the arts, may seem unimportant. Does it really matter if we choose to read certain books, listen to specific pieces of music, or look at particular works of art? If movies, television, and the Internet are sources of entertainment, shouldn’t we just be entertained?

In fact, the choices you make will not only affect you, but potentially your children and grandchildren for the rest of their lives.

Small children begin learning the lessons of life early. As they eventually grow into young adults, they will be influenced by their choices in music, movies, art, and books. It’s time we recognize that each of these components of our culture delivers a message. Many will say the messages have no place in the arts, certainly not in entertainment. The legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn once famously said of films produced to deliver messages, “If you want to send a message, call Western Union.” Today e-mails have supplanted telegrams, but we all know what Goldwyn meant. Goldwyn was wrong, at least in one respect.

The distinguished cultural analyst and teacher Russell Kirk observed that if a boy doesn’t read Treasure Island, he will likely be reading Mad Ghoul Comics. Russell Kirk wrote those words years ago; today the boy he describes might be reading things far worse than Mad Ghoul Comics; he also might not be reading at all. Kirk’s point was that bad books were not only badly written, they often delivered bad messages. Song lyrics deliver messages too and even music without lyrics can deliver a message. We learn lessons from motion pictures, from art, from the things we see and hear throughout our lives.

Many of these messages become lessons learned for good or ill; they are often far more powerful than the ideas conveyed in a traditional classroom.

So first and foremost, Cultural Conservation is about ideas and values.

The question isn’t whether or not members of your family (at all ages) will absorb such ideas and values, but which ones they will absorb. The Cultural Conservationist is someone who recognizes that the solution to this problem cannot be found in several places that we might traditionally regard as helpful.

For example, you may assume erroneously that schools and colleges are a natural ally. But too many academicians have adopted precisely the wrong mindset. They confuse change with progress and are eager to jettison everything remotely traditional because it isn’t brand new. They are often dominated by a desire to follow the latest fads, to prove they are politically correct, and to conceal their own lack of knowledge behind a series of buzzwords.

The government, like the schools, is more often part of the problem than the solution. Government bureaucrats can be meddlesome and falsely authoritative. When they address cultural issues, they often do so by rewarding cronies and channeling funds to people with political agendas.

The entertainment industry is the most powerful player on our cultural chessboard. The head of a large media company may have a million times more financial resources than academicians or politicians. These individuals have large media megaphones and could be the true champions of cultural conservation. But sadly, they are overwhelmingly motivated by a desire for huge profits. There is nothing wrong with earning huge profits in a free market, but with the right to earn those profits comes the responsibility to consider the impact of the products that you are offering to an eager and often gullible public.

So if you want to insure your family’s receiving a life of joy and inspiration from the arts, the answer is Cultural Conservation and what we can do together.

We can reform education.

You can see that your children and grandchildren are introduced to the arts at an early age. You can ask yourself, “What values are encouraged and inspired by our culture?”

You can spread the word in your family and your community, reminding everyone that change and progress are not synonymous.

You don’t need to attend a school or obtain a credential to be a dedicated Cultural Conservationist. You just need to familiarize yourself with the positive and dynamic mindset that can lead you and your family in the right direction. The path to progress is clear. Real progress is built by absorbing and preserving our best cultural legacy. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. In our eagerness to move ahead, we must never forget what we may be leaving behind.

Cultural Conservation does not provide a guarantee or a group of promises.

What is provides is an opportunity for you to join millions of others in an important effort to preserve the best of our past and present, thereby insuring the future for you, your children, and grandchildren.

Are you ready for a challenge? Cultural Conservation is a non-profit organization dedicated to these principles. It is also an idea whose time has come. To take your first step in becoming a Cultural Conservationist and developing a plan of action to help your family, click here.