Nov 10, 2006
Veterans History Project... a timely plug
Whatever your politics, the Veterans History Project is a great way to get students involved in doing history.
Preparing for and executing the interviews demands that students develop their research skills, organize the results, and learn to apply that knowledge in real-time. The process of documenting and submitting the results teaches students the critical nuts-and-bolts of establishing proper documentation and a sense of how archives work.
But, perhaps most importantly, the process of interviewing a number of Veterans (and others who"experienced war"), whose experiences vary based on the conflicts or times in which they served and on their own roles and backgrounds, cannot help but complicate and challenge students' preconceived notions of conflict.... Whatever their politics.
Preparing for and executing the interviews demands that students develop their research skills, organize the results, and learn to apply that knowledge in real-time. The process of documenting and submitting the results teaches students the critical nuts-and-bolts of establishing proper documentation and a sense of how archives work.
But, perhaps most importantly, the process of interviewing a number of Veterans (and others who"experienced war"), whose experiences vary based on the conflicts or times in which they served and on their own roles and backgrounds, cannot help but complicate and challenge students' preconceived notions of conflict.... Whatever their politics.