To paraphrase Art Linklater, it seems that adults often say the darndest things, not kids – especially radio talk show hosts.

            Just the other day, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was ranting about multicultural education courses being presented in our high schools.  He had summarily decided that they were ruining our country, and that because our children were learning about the cultures and histories of other nations on this planet, they must be completely ignorant of their own U.S. history.

            He even went so far as to single out a specific high school - Evanston, IL Township High School (ETHS) - because of their required global studies courses.

            He proclaimed, ETHS students “don’t know anything about World War II” and “they’ve probably never heard the name Adolph Hitler” because they are so focused on a multicultural curriculum.

            If Mr. Limbaugh had bothered to do a little research before making such a grandiose claim, he might have discovered several interesting and pertinent facts:

-        Evanston Township High School happens to be located in a large Jewish community.  Each year, the school hosts activities for ‘Holocaust Remembrance Week.’

-        Until 10^th grade, its students concentrate specifically on U.S. and European history.

-        ETHS students do extremely well on standardized U.S. history exams.

Rightly so, several ETHS students were extremely upset over Mr. Limbaugh’s statements, and they immediately called his radio program to challenge him to a debate on World War II history.

And needless to say, neither Mr. Limbaugh nor his radio talk show producer have mustered enough courage to call these students back, or dared to accept their most interesting challenge.

And I think that’s truly a shame.  I usually don’t listen to radio talk shows because it seems that Mr. Limbaugh and other radio talk show hosts often make grandiose statements and claims without any basis in fact.

But I would eagerly tune in to his show to listen to a nationally syndicated World War II debate between him and these extremely knowledgeable youngsters.

I’m willing to bet that these high school students would kick his truly uninformed butt quite easily.

            And being a world history student myself, I salute both this high school and its students for sagely realizing that history truly is a global phenomenon; and that our future generations truly do need to be part of the global community; and that they truly do need to learn about the history of the entire world to help make it a better place, not just narrowly focus on these United States.