Dyer D. Lum is quoted as having said, on many occasions, “Events are the true schoolmasters.” I can remember in my high school every once in a while a class would touch on what was happening in the world, or even our backyard, as a basis for lesson or as a discussion point. Mostly we learned what had happened, sometimes how it had happened, and rarely if ever why it had happened. Certainly what was currently happening was never visited with this level of exploration, and while my class didn’t suffer from the kind of anti-politicization that we see in today’s schools, discussing current events rarely stretched further than, “Did you see?”

To be fair, I did have to take a test every quarter in my Russian language class on the current events through out the quarter of the Russian Federation and EVERY former Soviet Republic. At one point I far and away led the class in scores with a whopping 62%…

What did Lum mean by this undeniably great-at-parties quip? I’ve always interpreted his enigma as follows: what we teach / discuss / cover in the classroom needs to chase and pursue what is happening in the world FIRST and foremost. This is sort of the ultimate expression of Carts and Horses. You’re expected to work hard in school to work hard in college to work hard in a job and it’s just assumed that at some point, whenever, maybe after all that, you figure out what you care about in life and why. You’re expected to focus on your studies, on the High Culture High Pedagogy given to you, racing through millennia of knowledge and at some point, whenever, maybe after all that focus on what’s actually happening around you in the world. Why? Why not start now?

The oft-cited saying, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” is usually rolled out at this point, to which I have a few points. One, can we really claim that we haven’t just repeated history for pretty much all of history, including the times after which history curricula were invented? Two, I would argue that looking at what’s happening today and pushing yourself and your students to truly understand those Big Three questions (what’s happening, how is it happening, why is it happening) necessitates a deeper and more meticulous study of History than I’ve ever encountered in a predetermined curriculum.

Fortunately, one need only check out Twitter or TikTok (assuming it’s still active in the US at the time of this posting…) to see that kids are pretty engaged in what’s happening in their world already. Check out my post / series on Anti-Nihilist Teaching for more on that… Why not make it the focus of our work as educators? To say nothing of the prevalence of misinformation and aggressive bias masquerading as Facts and Statistics, students deserve and NEED to know what’s happening around them and how they’re a part of it. Someone has to help sorting out the collective mess of History, why not start with the kids in your classroom?