Anutha fine exampul of the Kalifornia educashunal sistem.

This week I learned that the vast majority of high school graduates in the greater Southern California area have never heard of Apartheid or The Killing Fields of Cambodia.  The Apartheid, of course, was the official policy of strict racial segregation and discrimination against nonwhites practiced in South Africa from 1950-1994. It was also the source of worldwide unease in its dealings with South Africa and the reason for a decades long embargo of that nation. Apartheid sparked significant internal/civil strife and violence as well as became the source for outrage for many pop culture icons.  "End Apartheid Now" signs often appeared in front of the White House as well as South African embassies; and yes, music videos too.  A series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. This of course gave rise to Nelson Mandela.  Bothersome as it may be to some reading this, many young Americans have heard his name but have no idea what his significance is; and that is a travesty.  Recent high school grads have told me that they have never heard of Pol Pot, the Kymer Rouge and the Killing Fields of Cambodia.  That event was the holocaust of the 1970s and is equally significant in history as Apartheid.  The period saw the death of approximately 2 million Cambodians through the combined result of political executions, starvation and forced labor. Additionally, in the spirit of his strong communist idealism, Pol Pot ordered the execution of anyone that was deemed a professional or with an education, including anyone who wore glasses (the regime believed that this was a symbol literacy). The concept was that Cambodia should be made up of pure blooded Cambodians who should be kept in ignorance and guided in all things by an educated elite, namely Pol Pot. Due to the large numbers, the deaths during the rule of the Khmer Rouge are often considered a genocide and commonly known as the Cambodian Holocaust or Cambodian Genocide. Lastly and perhaps most troublsome is the fact that time spent educating students about the Holocaust, Hitler and World War II has been replaced by more agenda driven curricula.  20 years ago, schools would dedicate a month focusing classes on that event as a means of ensuring that THAT would never happen again. School walls were covered with reminders about the atrocities that occurred at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis. Today there is a month for every special interest and ethnicity, except of course for the special interest of HUMANITY. Now the purpose of this blog is not to give a history lesson. Since the California school system is more concerned with celebrating plant diversity and petitioning MTV for the casting of one their students on "16 and Pregnant", I encourage everyone to research the Apartheid, The Killing Fields, Pol Pot and the Holocaust as they are crucial parts of world history and lessons learned in civil and human rights. Most importantly, it is our responsibility as world citizens to ensure that none of these events are ever repeated.  It is the responsibility of educators and parents to ensure that the youth of today enter adulthood with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to identfy the trends and warning signs that history has shown us will lead toward another horrific genocide or apartheid.