JEANNY GOT HIS GUN

History textbook tells buried military past: Not taught in schools: Canadians in Conflict emphasizes how strife shaped country (Heather Sokoloff, 5/12/03, National Post)

The first high school textbook on Canadian military history, published by Edmonton's school board because existing school books largely ignored the subject, has proven so popular they cannot be printed fast enough.

The 203-page text emphasizes the importance of war in shaping a sovereign Canada.

It comes at a time when parents have objected to teaching children how to spell ''gun'' and teachers' unions are among the most vocal opponents of the recent war in Iraq. But the author of Canadians in Conflict says there is a growing interest in the history of Canada's wars.

Doug Davis, a historian who works in curriculum development at the Edmonton Public School Board, said the textbook was born out of his frustration at how existing school books ignored the subject.

He could not find a student textbook with a decent section on Canada's military achievements. The 20th-century social studies text the district has used for years relegates its section on the First and Second World Wars to only five pages.

Dr. Davis, a distance-education lecturer at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., jokes many historians and social studies teachers think of military history as the ''depraved uncle in the family who no one wants to talk about.

''I get questions like: 'Why study this? War is bad and it kills people,' '' he said.

Gee, you mean Canadian kids want to believe their country is about something more than National Health and hockey? It's no wonder boys are doing so badly in school nowadays, if they don't teach anything that interests them. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 12, 2003 9:51 AM