MANASQUAN — The students of Jim Fagen’s Historical Perspective, Research and Debate class at the Manasquan High School are defining why “Vietnam Still Matters” through blog posts and interviews with Vietnam veterans.
“The idea is that the students write about something that was going on during the Vietnam Era and how something similar to that is still going on today,” Mr. Fagen told The Coast Star.
He explained that the students have been discussing “… the role that music plays in spreading messages, professional athletes protesting things that they see as injustices, adoption laws and so on.”
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The class partnered with the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation [VVMF] to speak with veterans, research and write blog posts about how the issues people face today compare to those faced during the Vietnam War.
Keri A. Giannotti, the museum educator for VVMF stated that the project was inspired by the article “What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?” by Bill McCloud.
“We are excited to continue to partner with Mr. Fagen, who was named our 2021 NJVVMF Teacher of the Year based on his commitment to teaching the Vietnam Era and recognizing veterans’ service in general,” said Ms. Giannotti.
After research, students were able to write about a range of different topics such as freedom of speech, protest music and surfing as a method of dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD], according to Ms. Giannotti.
“Based on discussions with teachers and students, we have come to the conclusion that Vietnam still matters now more than ever,” she said. “Some of the challenges we face today can be drawn back to the challenges faced during the Vietnam Era.”
“The students’ insight on these topics is so refreshing. Each essay takes a historical part of the Vietnam Era and brings the issue into the present,” said Ms. Giannotti.
Mr. Fagen explained that he originally wanted to assign the project as an essay that his 12 students — seniors, juniors and sophomores — would complete over the course of the semester. Once classes began, however, he realized that he “wanted to find something more meaningful for the students to do … that still involves the same skills that writing a larger paper would have required.”
That’s when he and Ms. Giannotti came up with the idea of having the students do blog posts.
His class began volunteering with The Veteran Oral History Project at the National Guard Militia Museum in Sea Girt, where they would help edit and file their interviews with Veterans for the website, according to Carol Fowler, the assistant curator/director at the museum. Ms. Fowler explained that the website has an oral history section containing close to 400 summaries of veterans’ interviews, with photos and links.
“For Carol, the students wrote summaries of veteran interviews for the Militia Museum’s website,” Mr. Fagen told The Coast Star. “Through this, the students were able to see a bit about how interviews are conducted, learn about people’s personal experiences, note-taking skills, and how to summarize an interview.”
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