Education: Wanted: A Bulfinch

Had the debunkers gone too far? What if the generation after next grew up without ever hearing about John Smith and Pocahontas or even George Washington and the cherry tree? The possibility bothered Richard E. Thursfield, who used to be a history teacher and now teaches "education" at Johns Hopkins. Last week, in an essay in The Study and Teaching of American History (The National Council for the Social Studies; $2.50), Thursfield called for a modern Bulfinch to write an American Age of Fable.

Wrote Thursfield: "American children should know those fascinating historical myths and legends that have become a part of American folklore. . . . Some of these myths stimulate affection for our country, or an appreciation of its leaders or institutions. Unfortunately, there has been a growing tendency for the history textbook and the history teacher to omit . . . legends in the classroom."

Thursfield thought a smart history teacher could use the legends to develop a "reasoned patriotism" in his pupils, without misleading them into thinking that the tales were sober history. Taught the right way, legends could make history livelier, at the same time show the youngsters how to recognize bias, exaggeration, propaganda. Among the great American fact-&-fiction stories on Thursfield's list: Isabella pawning her jewels to finance Columbus, the hiding of the Connecticut Charter in the Charter Oak, the exploits of Daniel Boone, the saving of Oregon by Marcus Whitman, the Lincoln-Ann Rutledge romance.