At the beginning of the course, we spent some time discussing just exactly what history was, what it meant to us, and when did we know when history was settled fact. In the interim, I must say that history is for me like a scientific discipline, where there is never just a final realized answer, but that our inquiry and newer methods make the field an area of continuous revelation. When considering the state of science and the means used just 200 years ago for paleontology and excavations, we may be at the very foundation of scientific efforts to reveal our past, especially those awaiting discovery by archeologists.

I suppose it is no surprise that my life and focus is Western centric, and it took me three weeks or so to adapt an orientation that would allow me to consider all that Strayer was saying about the things most unfamiliar to me. I  had  allowed for myself and my own background a relevance for what developed and came before to account for my attitudes and beliefs, then consider the same for other cultures, especially those much older and certainly ancient like the Chinese and Persians. Knowing that they have had a more direct link to their past, even observing and walking among things from those times, is something to remember when contemplating differences.

I will remember such circumstances before  I seek or comment on wanting to change the order of things.

War and Romanticism of Conflict

I am always astonished when reading about the tinderbox that was Europe just before WWI and the naiveté of the peoples on all sides believing they would be engaged in some type of 5-6 month frolic of battle instead of the long engagement that was the grinding machine of modern war at the turn of the last century. Citizens of nations in conflict believing that warfare is a simple, fun or an adventurous experience (liking war to  a video game is the modern equivalent) is, unfortunately, nothing new. For our part, both combatants in the United States Civil War had similar romantic and exciting notions about the beginning of our “War of Secession.” Our forgotten protracted conflict in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War saw the betrayal of Aguinaldo and the deaths of 225,000 Pinoy at American hands.  The Spanish-American War was largely romanticized in the beginning, but proved a foreshadowing jungle conflict to the Viet Nam War. I have firsthand knowledge that the damage done to the human body by war removes all reference and application to romanticism.

False and Forced Borders Within the Global South

I found Stayer’s thoughts on the changes of former colonies in the Global South quite challenging. The imposition of artificial borders by Europeans across African nations and peoples leaves the Global South in a state of tumult likely unresolved for several generations. Such is the legacy of adventurism and colonialism. While there are still hard feelings about similar circumstances unresolved in South America, the problems there the past 100 years appear as skirmishes compared to Africa, especially the nations centered around Lake Victoria. Certainly there was conflict in many places before white men, but this imposition of political borders joining groups suspicious of each other for hundreds of years lends itself to problems like those erupting in Rwanda every other generation. The generation in this region that can negotiate a lasting peace will have diplomatic skills never seen before.

Visuals

The visual studies at the end of these chapters had more to say to me than other chapters. Perhaps now they hit closer to home and my own understanding.

German View of Napoléon

I suppose many in Germany knew that their own unifying hero like Bismarck was decades away, so it was easy at first to admire Napoléon. Beethoven was such an admirer and devoted a symphony to him. That is, until he invaded and started killing large numbers of Germans and Austrians.

Some of the visuals and their idealistic interpretations of early Industrial Age life strike me as pure propaganda. 

English

For me, the most notorious is a beautiful family traveling together in an idyllic luxury cabin by train, with Saint Paul’s Cathedral in the background.  Even today, seeing Saint Paul’s Cathedral from a distance of more than a couple miles is quite a feat.  While not Manila or Mexico City, London has a lot of particulate diesel matter in the air and is only saved by marine currents. The print regarding the Crystal Palace also puts a best face on industrialization and captures for me another propaganda item. Although glass and iron, it burnt down.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

My thoughts on the readings this week had my attention caught up in the differences in culture expressed by industrialized powers, and what Strayer has to say to account for the differences.  Some, but not all of Stayer’s thinking parallels that of author Jared Diamonds book Guns, Germs, and Steel. A National Geographic production of that work is available on Google Video. It goes to a long explanation as to simple things as diet staples contributing to a society to become seafaring or have enough time away from basic food growing and production to devote time to new and exploratory methods.

                                                                            

Brother Bob Smith

My interviewee is Brother Bob Smith, a Capuchin Brother currently acting as President of Messmer Catholic Schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Messmer operates a high school I attended.

On paper, the Milwaukee Public School System is very high performing.  The SAT scores for its students are among the highest in the country.  What is lost in such evaluation is the fact that for decades, Milwaukee schools have had a majority black population that does not typically take SAT testing in the numbers of the white majority, skewing the results.  In a recent school year, four high schools composed of ninety percent black youth did not produce one black male graduate.

Since the 1980s, Messmer has been at the forefront of the fight for school vouchers in the presence of failing schools throughout Milwaukee.    Brother Bob Smith, as well as other black education activists, see the matter of a quality education as a basic human right, and has them in dispute with the white dominated Milwaukee Public School Board.  A recent visit by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to a Messmer elementary school resulted in demonstrations.

In 2005, I had the opportunity to interview Brother Bob.  He provided an insightful view of his struggle for thousands of children to attain an education better than equitable to suburban Milwaukee.  My interview is unpublished, but dated.  I have scheduled a telephone conference in the next few days to discuss events since 2005.  Below please find some of my questions:

1.     Wisconsin is at the epicenter of public union sector debate.  What is the current quality of education in the Milwaukee Public School System?

2.     What is the current quality of a teacher in the Milwaukee Public School System?

3.     The voucher system has been in place in Milwaukee schools for nearly two decades.  Is the voucher system here to stay?

4.     Messmer Schools draws on some of the children already experiencing an education within Milwaukee schools.  Have efforts like No Child Left Behind had any measurable impact (pro or con) on the students you obtain?

5.     Messmer Schools are currently at X number of students.  What are the growth projections, if any, for Messmer Schools?

6.     When Gov. Scott Walker visited your elementary school last year, out of town union crowds from as far away as Madison and Illinois threatened your teachers, staff, students, and vandalized your building.  Have there been any lasting repercussions?