Above: French Senegalese soldiers, World War I; me teaching my “troops” ninety years later.

Forgive me for going all History Teacher on you.

May 22, tomorrow’s date, in History:

German forces launch a counterattack during the months-long Battle of Verdun, aimed at recapturing Fort Douamont, a strongpoint in the French defenses.

In 2010, my teaching partner, Amber Derbidge, and I took a group of AGHS students to Northern France and the trip included a visit to the Verdun battlefield, including Fort Douaumont.

Over 300,000 French and German soldiers were killed in this battle. 100,000 were killed or wounded in the struggle for this fort.

We were touring the battlefield museum when a French docent took me aside.

“Are these YOUR students?” she hissed. My crests fell.

“Yes,” I admitted.

“They are so RESPECTFUL!”

I once said that the year I quit getting angry over teaching the First World War was the year I should quit teaching.

One year, I asked one of my students what her favorite unit was in AP European History.

Her answer was almost immediate.

“The First World War,” she said.

I was flabbergasted. WHY?

“Because now I understand the value of human life.”

This is why, as quaint and impractical as the courses may seem, we still teach history and literature to high school students.