A letter to the principal…

Hello, I am writing to you about the presentation given at the _______ Jr. High School by the children of ________ Elementary.

First and foremost let me say that I appreciate the job you and your teachers do in not only caring for children, but doing your best to educate them.

Thank you for supporting the arts!!

I am elated that you and your teachers are not so caught up in the factory model of education as to eliminate the Arts from your curriculum. It is a delight to see Art, Music, and Dance being taught despite the modern focus on testing and “right” answers.

I write to you though, not only of pleasant things- I also bring a concern. It is not with the presentation itself, but with the factual inaccuracies contained within- chiefly, the “fact” that “as every school child knows, Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.”

I understand that this was only a child’s musical presentation, and I have thought long and hard about sending this email to you, but it can not be allowed to stand. This is the second time I have seen this presentation and I expect that it is done year after year. As I understand it, the goal of this “musical” is to help children learn about true scientific geniuses and be inspired by their example.

I am, like you and your fellow educators, interested in the problem of how to inspire our young people, particularly in math and the sciences. As we in the US produce fewer and fewer engineers and scientists and more economic hopefuls, it becomes an ever-more immediate concern. I am afraid based on this presentation that in the pursuit of this lofty goal, they are being taught fallacies- in fact, I know this is the case.

They sang and spoke lovingly that night of Thomas Edison, a man who was, to put it mildly, a scoundrel who “invented” next to nothing— who, by the account of Nikola Tesla, scorned book-learning and trusted his “American” inventor’s instinct. He stole patents, killed his assistant, and electrocuted small animals in order to discredit a true inventor.

It is well-documented that Edison did these and many other horrible things.

The following links are amusing (though not, I think child-appropriate) and Illustrate a bit of the attitude toward Edison and other scientists who thought little of others:
http://ty.rannosaur.us/5-geniuses-who-were-massive-assholes/

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

http://anonymous-douche.blogspot.com/2009/05/douche-bag-of-week-thomas-edison-yeah.html

http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/Thomas_Edison_was_a_Douchebag

If we truly want to teach our children, the REAL story of the lightbulb might be a more enlightening and profitable story to tell. It illustrates that you may be gifted with intelligence but if you don’t use common sense, all will be lost. It can inspire in a completely different (and more realistic) way- teaching children that being famous doesn’t equate being good- a lesson sorely needed today. In a world of keeping up with Kardashians and American Idols, we owe them nothing less than to teach them the relative meaninglessness of these trivialities. I am sure you are aware of the statistics of how many vote for Idols vs Presidents.

If we teach them lies, we have taught them nothing. The popular story of Edison that the children told on April 26th was that the “genius” was blessed with “an invention” and nothing more. Perhaps they were told in class the popular Myth of how he “struggled” to invent it but did not give up, but certainly they did not demonstrate that they knew he failed utterly, promised to pay Nikola Tesla and then laughed when Tesla asked for compensation. They we’re not told that by greed and manipulation he was able to trick people out of the patents to their work, how the patent system is and was corrupt and out-dated, or how, had Tesla won the “War of the Currents” we would not have the energy crisis we have today.

Moreover, if we teach them lies, they will find us out. And when they find us out, they will no longer trust what we have to say. Generational war of philosophy have gone on for centuries and the greatest cultural upheavals have been born from lies the previous generations propagate. We should, and we MUST not perpetuate Glossed-over versions of the truth because we imagine our children can’t handle it. We MUST prepare them for reality and not fill their heads with pie-in-the-sky dreams.

Tesla was not the only inventor ignored. Steve Wozniak (inventor of the Macintosh), Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (the first computer programmer), and Charles Babbage (inventor of the analytical engine, the first computer) and even the female programmers of WWII were ignored. Might it not be more profitable to adjust the focus of this presentation and celebrate innovation AND truth? I would be glad to be involved in writing and producing such a pice should it be required in the future.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read this long-winded email and I want to the you in advance for seeing to it that these kinds of inaccuracies do not continue. May you and your school continue to be a shining beacon of wholistic education and may you foster some of the most creative and exceptional minds of the twenty-first century.

Yours Respectfully,
A Concerned Citizen