ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 29, 1993                   TAG: 9303290425
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STUDENTS NEED MORE HISTORY LESSONS

I AM A junior at the College of William and Mary and consider myself fortunate to be enrolled in Wallace Terry's "Eyewitness to the Sixties" class, discussed on the front page of the Feb. 21 Extra section in the Roanoke Times & World-News.

I would like to stress the need for instruction in area high schools' history classes on the civil-rights movement and the Vietnam War. As a 1991 graduate of Roanoke Valley Governor's, C.I.T.Y. and Patrick Henry High schools, I have been exposed to subjects in Terry's class that received no attention whatsoever in Roanoke's secondary public schools.

As a collegian, I am concerned that graduates will face the challenges of college inadequately prepared to understand the evolution of the American conscience. As an American, I am concerned that the American people could be ignorant of their heritage.

I thank the public-school system that facilitated my enrollment at the College of William and Mary, and realize the strains of budget and time that constrain all teachers. However, we must all be concerned that generations of Americans are shortchanged in an area touching every person in this country. EMILY B. LEACH BLUE RIDGE 


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