A World Apart: Educators Hope To Change History
The history of the world can be taught by examining a McDonald's Happy Meal.
The sugar in the soft drinks can be traced from New Guinea to Persia to the Mediterranean to Africa, and finally to the Caribbean. The french fries illustrate the technological and agricultural achievements of the Incas, who grew more than 3,000 species of potatoes. The beef patty helps show how European settlers introduced cattle to American Indians, as well as the horses they needed to round up the herds.
"It allows a food commodity to be a history topic, linking people throughout the world," Kirk A. Hoppe, an assistant professor of history at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said in explaining the fast-food lesson to 20 high school teachers attending a two-week...
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