DOCUMENT RESUME ED 337 409 SO 021 577 AUTHOR Starr, Jerold M., Ed. TITLE The Ussons of the Vietnam War. INSTITUTION Center for Social Studies Education, Pittsburgh, PA. REPORT NO ISBN-0-945919-15-8 PUB DATE 91 NOTE 361p. AVAILABLE FROMCenter for Social Studies Education, 3857 Willow Averae, Pittsburgh, PA 15234 ($19.95). PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Guides - Classroom Use- Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) -- Guides- Classroom Use - Instructional Materials (For Learner) (051) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available fromEDRS. DESCRIPTORS Curriculum Guides; High Schools; Instructional Materials; Learning Activities; *LearniLg Modules; Secondary Education; Social Studies; TeachingGuides; Teaching Methods; *United States History;*Vietnam War ABSTRACT This text book on the Vietnam War is to be usedin teaching high students. Each of the volume's12 chapters is a self-contained unit on an aspect of the War.The chipters are: (1) Introduction to Vietnam: land, history, andculture; (2) America at war in Vietnam: decisions and consequences;(3) Was the Vietnam War legal? (4) who fought for the Uaited States;(5) How the United States fought the war; (6) When var becomesa crime: the case of My Lai; (7) Taking sides: the war at home;(8) How the war was reported; (9) Women's perspectiveon the Vietnam War; (10) The wounds ofwar and the process of healing; (11) Boat people andVietnamese refugees in the United States; and (12) The VietnamWar: lessons from yesterday for today. (Approximately 240 references) (DB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bestthat can be made from the original document. ********************************************************r************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office at Educattonal Rseciarczt and Improvomont EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This docurnionl has been reproduced as Oceived from tne Person or organization 2matmgit O Minor changes nave bean made to improve coproduction Quality Points& view or opinionsstated in tnmdccv- mCnI do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY C tut TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." BES COPYHAI INTRODUCTION The U.S. ivar in Vietnam was the longest and second most costly in U.S. history. More than two million American boys were sent to fight. More than 58,000 were killed, more than 300,000 wounded, &Aid almost 14,000 completely disabled. According to the U.S. Veteran's Administration, up to 800,000 Vietnam veterans have been diagnosed as having "significant" to "severe" problems of readjustment. The war cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and these costs will clntinue for decades in the form of veterans' benefits and interest on past loans. In Vietnam today over two million dead are mourned. Four million were wounded and ten million displaced from their homes. More than five million acres of forest and croplands were laid waste by 18 million gallons of poisonous chemical herbicides. The present government has not been able to develop the economy to meet the needs of its people. Public, opinion polls over the years consistently show that two of three Americans judge the Vietnam War to have been a "mistake." Unfortunately, few claim to know what the U.S. should have done differently. Over half do not have "a clear idea" what the war was about; a third can't even remember which side we supported. The problem is even worse for American youthfuture citizens and leaderswho have no experience of the war and little or no knowledge of it. Many knowledgeable adults cannot talk to youth about the war. They served in Vietnam and memories of that experience still are too painful. A veteran from California confided to me that he cannot "read about Vietnam without the nightmares returning." Another from Texas shared, "My daughter asked me to speak to her high school class on the war. I could not do it for fear of losing my composure." The schools, entrusted with passing on our heritage, have all but ignored Vietnam. Coverage in the standard textbooks ranges from a few paragraphs to a few pages. Perhaps the most common objection to teaching the war is that it is "controversial." We cannot allow educators to censor a subject for being controversial in a nation that has gone to war in the name of freedom. Moreover, such deliberate ignorance of America's longest war constitutes a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrificed there. We owe them and ourselves the whole truth about our national experience. The Vietnam War was passionately debated precisely because it raised fundamental questions about what we as a nation stand for in the world. To censor such controversy is to tell our students that they will not learn in school what people care most about in life. To be sure, controversy can be fueled by extremist propaganda. In a democracy, however, the best defense is to give our youth the strength of mind and character to defend themselves. This curriculum shows hhers, parnits and youth how to ask the important questions in ways that Copyrighted 0 1991 by the Center for Social Studies Education All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced inany form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Making copies ofany part of this book for any purpose is a violation of the United States copyright law. For information,contact the Center for Social Studies Education, 3857 Willow Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15234, (412) 341-1967. ISBN 0-945919-15-8 First Edition Printed in the United States of America 4 INTRODUCTION The U.S. -,var in Vietnam was the longest and second most costly in U.S. history. More than two million American boys were sent to fight. More than 58,000 were killed, more than 300,000 wounded, traid almost 14,000 completely disabled. According to the U.S. Veteran's Administration, up to 800,000 Vietnam veterans have been diagnosed as having "significant" to "severe" problems of readjustment. The war cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and these costs will cnntinue for decades in the form of veterans' benefits and interest on past loans. In Vietnam today over two million dead are mourned. Four million were wounded and ten million displaced from their homes. More than five million acres of forest and croplands were laid waste by 18 million gallons of poisonous chemical herbicides. The present government has not been able to develop the economy to meet the needs of its people. Public opinion polls over the years consistently show that two of three Americans judge the Vietnam War to have been a "mistake." Unfortunately, few claim to know what the U.S. should have done differently. Over half do not have "a clear idea" what the war was about; a third can't even remember which side we supported. The problem is even worse for American youthfuture citizens and leaderswho have no experience of the war and little or no knowledge of it. Many knowledgeable adults cannot talk to youth about the war. They served in Vietnam and memories of that experience still are too painful. A veteran from California confided to me that he cannot "read about Vietnam without the nightmares returning." Another from Texas shared, "My daughter asked me to speak to her high school class on the war. I could not do it for fear of losing my composure." The schools, entrusted with passing on our heritage, have all but ignored Vietnam. Coverage in the standard textbooks ranges from a few paragraphs to a few pages. Perhaps the most common objection to teaching the war is that it is "controversial." We cannot allow educators to censor a subject for being controversial in a nation that has gone to war in the name of freedom. Moreover, such deliberate ignorance of America's longest war constitutes a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrificed there. We owe them and ourselves the whole truth about our national experience. The Vietnam War was passionately debated precisely because it raised fundamental questions about what we as a nation stand for in the world. To censor such controversy is to tell our students that they will not learn in school what people care most about in life. To be sure, controversy can be fueled by extremist propaganda. In a democracy, however, the best defense is to give our youth the strength of mind and character to defend themselves. This curriculum shows tihers, parmts and youth how to ask the important questions in ways that lead to deeper understanding rather than division. Those of us who have been willing to teach about the Vietnam War have found it to be a most eniting and fulfilling experience. This is one subject for which student motivation is not a problem. Young people already are intensely interested in learning about the war. Movies, TV shows, paperback novels, magazines, and even comic books on the war have been enormously popular. Many students have deep personal motives for searching out this history. They are the sons and daughters, nephews and nieces of those who served in Vietnam. I introduced a course on the war at West Virginia University in the fall of 1987. Half of the thirty students in the class had a close family member who was a Vietnam veteran. Eight of those fifteen relatives had refused to ever discuss it. One of my students told the school paper, "Both my dad and my uncles were glad that someone was teaching a class in the war because they didn't want to talk about their experience, but they wanted me to know." Two of my students later told me they used this textbook to open up discussion of the war with their fathers for the very first time.