World History, Rewritten

History was never my strongest subject in high school. When test time came around, I prayed for essay questions, instead of multiple choice or true or false questions. Somehow, I figured out that with my writing skills, I could reword the sentence and embellish it to the point that it seemed as if I had answered the question clearly and concisely.

While this method generally worked well for me, I do not condone it, nor do I suggest any of my young readers try it. My suggestion to you would be, simply put, to study. If you know the information, then you don't have to try and fake it. I'm pretty certain that is true, or my parents wouldn't have repeated it to me numerous times throughout my youth.

I have managed to gain a better understanding of history as I've aged. That fact is partly because I enjoy reading so much. It's also partly -- mostly -- because I have a smart son who educates me on history and corrects my occasional misinterpretation of what has been.

Regardless of my knowledge of history, I recently overheard an exchange between a ninth grader and a curious first grader. While I may not be certain of the small nuances and facts, I believe that the overall lesson may not be entirely accurate...

"What is nuclear energy," the first-grader asked.

"Well," said the ninth-grader. "Nuclear energy is what's inside of a nuclear bomb. And if you were to shake it, it would explode."

The littler one asked why. The older one proceeded to tell him about the history of the atomic bomb.

"During World War I," the ninth-grader said, "China bombed America and America got so mad that they created an atomic bomb. Three of them actually. The biggest landed in Nah-gah-yahtzee. And after World War I ended, we all agreed to never ever, ever use nuclear energy again."

The first-grader took the information in stride. Off he ran with his newfound knowledge. I turned to the ninth-grader and asked her what she was learning in school these days. She informed me that she had a stupid history teacher who let's her get away with anything. Oh, and the tests are too easy.

I've got my fingers crossed that she'll get some extra history lessons before the SAT's roll around.