Historical Value

[Tigerlily Gamgee]

I was thinking about this when I was at work the other day. Let me start by explaining...
I work at a living history museum. My job is to tell people stories and historical facts about the buildings they are touring, and it just so happens to be field trip time. We are visited by many kids every day, but it was something a parent did that made me think...
I was telling a story about Henry Ford as people toured his birthplace. I told them about the living conditions of the time, and so on, and then a woman (one of the parents) says, "Someone REALLY lived here?" I said, "Yes". She said, "REALLY? Is he still living?" She seemed to disregaurd the fact that I was talking about Henry Ford, who founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, AND that the museum is called Henry Ford Museum. How could she go there without knowing who he was?

OK, now to my point...
While re-reading The Lord of the Rings I really noticed this time how all of the characters are very well educated with their history and how they all know about their ancestors and the doings of the past. I though, "How wonderful would this be if people today still had such an appreciation for their history." I don't know what it's like where you live, but near me people are not very well educated (as a whole). I saw on the news that the local high schools tested at a 22% satisfactory reading rate! High school! These kids probably couldn't even tackle a book like The Lord of the Rings!!! I just find it sad that an alarming amount of people today are forgetting their history and losing the importance of it.

I was wondering what this is like around where you live and if you see the same thing.
Also, I was wondering what you think would happen if Frodo wasn't as well educated... let's say that he didn't know any Elvish, he didn't know that maps of Middle Earth and he didn't know the history of Middle Earth. I think that it could've damaged his mission.
Any opinions????

Sorry, this was a long one! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]