Do your kids ever ask you how the U.S. ended up in Iraq or why China represses Christians? Current events can ignite your child’s interest in history and jumpstart lessons in the classroom! Join us this week on Home School Heartbeat as host Mike Farris interviews history professor Dr. David Aikman about the ties between past and present.
Mike Farris:
My guest this week is prolific author and former correspondent for TIME Magazine Dr. David Aikman. David is a professor at Patrick Henry College, he teaches upper-level history courses on China, Russia, and the Middle East. Dr. Aikman, I’m glad to have you on the program.
Dr. David Aikman:
Mike, it’s terrific to be on the program with you.
Mike:
David, what would you encourage parents to consider as they teach their kids the historical background on current events?
Dr. Aikman:
Well, I think its important to have even a basic historical knowledge about countries that you’re reading about or seeing on television. But I think it’s more important to keep up with different situations through serious magazines, both weekly and monthly and I would put The Economist magazine at the top of that list because I think it has the most comprehensive weekly coverage, and look at any television programs that seem to go beyond simply the two-minute news slices on a country. Listen to radio programs, National Public Radio which is often maligned as left-wing and so on, often has quite good programs on different foreign countries by people who are actually reporting from those places. But generally use every means of media access that one can have to find out about different countries in the world.
Mike:
Thank so much, Dr. Aikman. I'm Mike Farris.
