Medieval Times to Today

     In the Middle Ages students learn how impoverished the people of the past were.  The peasants of Asia and Europe lived in filth and starvation.  They struggled to pay their bills on the 10% of the crops they were allowed to keep.

    Today, the economy is as bad as it's been since 1929!  Yes, FDR's era!  New Deal!  Stock market crash of 1929 comes to mind as does the squalor of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD!  Clearly social studies is about today as much as yesterday.

    During ancient and medieval times power belonged to the few, the ruler and the elite, his government workers (and yes, I do mean HE).  In Europe it was the king or emperor; in Asia it was the Shogun.  

    Today, TIME MAGAZINE gives "Person of the Year" award to the Protester: the group that has protested their belief that American no longer has a middle class.  Today we are divided, they say, into 1% rich and 99% poor.

    In Medieval Times people fought over religion.  Holy Wars, for example, occurred over a 200 year period. 

    Today, the Muslim groups keep fighting each other as well.

    In the past, Europeans were prejudiced against the Jews.  They blamed them for the Bubonic Plague and killed them on their way to kill Muslims just because they were different.  

    Today, people are still prejudiced toward Jews, and bullying toward many groups has become a national problem.