What is the value of learning "history"?

"History is not cyclical, nor is it a series of unconnected events. It is a study of the decisions and actions of people acting in obedience or disobedience to God's pattern for living and the consequences that result from their actions."
Richard J. Edlin, The Cause of Christian Education, p.69. Vision Press, 1998
Agree or disagree?--A bright, gifted, committed Christian teacher in the public schools cannot teach history in a way that leads students to wisdom.

You be the judge.

"I believe television is going to be the test of the modern world, and that in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our vision we shall discover either a new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by television--of that I am quite sure."
E. B. White, "Removal From Town", Harper's 1938

Let Them Play

"Between test prep, extracurricular activities, heavy course loads, after-school tutoring, and shorter recesses, many of today's overscheduled children rarely have time to play dress-up or a game of kick the can. (dr: kick the plastic bottle?)
But a report published this fall by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that all of this frenzied enrichment is counterproductive when it squeezes out free time.
'Play is important to healthy brain development,' states the report, which goes on to cite a laundry list of benefits associated with unstructured fun, including enhanced learning, creativity, emotional strength, confidence, resilience, decision making, and ability to work in groups. Play allows children to explore the world around them and discover what they love to do.
Among the factors limiting playtime, the report cites colleges' sky-high admission standards--and parents' perception that their children must cure cancer in order to get in--and the No Child Left Behind Act's call for increased focus on academic basics, which often comes at the expense of recess, the arts, and physical education.
Academics and extracurriculars are important, but enough is enough. Children need time to simply be kids."
Any comments?
(From: Teacher Magazine, January 2007)

George Rouault on what matters

"It is not the worldly eclecticism of multiple knowledge that enriches, but perseverance in a favorable furrow and the loving, silent effort of a whole life."
George Rouault, the early 20th century French expressionist painter, can teach us vital things that contemporary business gurus, cultural analysts, and popular religious speakers and writers cannot.

G. K. C. on Marriage

"Of all human institutions marriage is the one which most depends upon slow development, upon patience, upon long reaches of times, upon magnanimous compromise, upon kindly habit."
Early Notebooks