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The Museum of American Armor in Bethpage is announcing a D-Day essay challenge for Long Island college students. The winner will get a free trip to Normandy during next year’s 80th anniversary of the historic World War II invasion.
The challenge will be announced by Lawrence Kadish, the museum’s founder and president on Tuesday, June 6, the 79th anniversary of D-Day.
According to a news release about the essay challenge, Kadish will remind that a “survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found that a quarter of Americans didn’t know that D-Day occurred during World War II and less than half knew that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president during that time. With such basic historic facts unknown to many college students, there is little surprise that few appreciate how our geo-political world is defined by the courage, valor, and sacrifice of Americans who answered the call of freedom over seventy-five years ago.”
On Long Island, social studies teachers have expressed a need to “prevent what they see as an erosion of the amount of class time assigned to history under evolving state educational guidelines,” according to the news release.
“Without being anchored to our history, we are a nation adrift,” Kadish said.
In 2010 the New York Regents limited social studies tests in fifth and eighth grades, suggesting the state lacked funds for assessments.
Gloria Sesso, co-president of the Long Island Council for the Social Studies and an advisor to the Armor Museum, says those tests were never restored.
Sesso had signed letter of protest to Betty Rosa, the state’s education commissioner, warning that the state’s planned changes for social studies curriculum could pose a “danger to democracy” by lessening the amount of class time schools spend on the subject.
“This essay contest will potentially incentivize a generation of college students to study this era, making up for considerable educational deficit they experienced due to the loss of state mandates,” Sesso.
Meanwhile, will be accepted by the Museum of American Armor for the next 10 months. They may be mailed, emailed, or delivered by hand. The essays will be judged by members of the Armor Museum board and recognized educators. The winner must be over 18 years of age and will be responsible for having a valid passport. The Armor Museum will provide air and ground transportation and accommodations on the Cotentin Peninsula, France, that is near the historic Normandy beaches. The decision of the judges will be final and all essays will become the property of the museum for the purpose of creating a permanent online archive of the submissions.
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Adina Genn
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