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Distant Learning  

The Ronald Reagan Library’s swanky new “Air Force One Discovery Center” recreating Reagan’s Island hopping holiday in Grenada has received the super glamorous  THEA Award for Learning Experience from industry titans of the Themed Entertainment Association.

  The TEA-ists love how it draws in the youngsters.

“Here each plays a role in responding to a rapidly unfolding crisis that seems all too real. The result is an innovative, involving and highly personal experience of presidential decision making that achieves a highly successful educational experience with the enthusiasm of compelling role playing entertainment. The kids are completely engaged.“

The kids do get some learnin’, but while it “seems all too real” it doesn’t have much to do with reality.

The Reagan Discovery Center takes school children and plunks them down in an Oval Office recreation  [steps away from yet another replica Oval Office], Air Force One [right next to an actual plane] ,  and the command post of the USS Ronald Reagan, which did not exist at the time of the invasion.

Entirely disappeared from the exhibit is the unprecedented military censorship of the invasion, which allowed the Reagan Administration freedom to tell the story first their way. Also missing are the plucky American medical students, whose mythical danger of becoming “hostages” was the lead public explanation for the invasion. Enjoy the show!