History
In an article for the Chicago Tribune, journalist John Kass covers a story entitled "Teacher's lesson about racism offends his bosses." This story is about a Monroe, Michigan, 36 year veteran middle school history teacher who showed a video of a white entertainer in "blackface" during a lecture on racism and segregation in the U.S., and was subsequently suspended by administration. Turns out, students and parents were outraged at his suspension, and organized on his behalf to get his job back. He was eventually reinstated. There has not yet been any discussion on his curriculum choices and nothing resembling an apology has been issued; we're just left with a talented educator with a bitter taste in his mouth. In his own words, "Teaching history means that sometimes you teach things that happened that were offensive. Racism is offensive, and the use of blackface was offensive, the crucifixion was offensive, wars are offensive, and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was offensive. But it happened. You don't skip history because it might offend. It happened. It's history. That's what I do. I teach history." (Qtd in Kass) I think this teacher makes an excellent point about history and the way it is taught, and I believe if we had more educators like this one in our country we might someday be able to acknowledge our past, grow from it, and eventually move forward. (I also think it could help the maturity level towards race in this country.)
I believe that the way we teach U.S. history in the American public school system is an issue we face today. While I do believe the history that is taught in schools today has gotten much better in recent years, it differs widely across the country because the way history is taught is debated controversially due to the many different thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, surrounding American's often times violent history. There are some areas of the United States that stifle an accurate depiction of history, like up in Monroe, MI, and others that change and alter it to suit their beliefs: a county in Georgia that teaches Creationism alongside of Evolution in public schools, a county in Texas that now refers to the slave trade as the atlantic triangular trade, are just a couple of disturbing examples and articulate the way that this is a national issue and not just one for the slave states. I believe that withholding knowledge, whether it's good or bad, holds society back, and before we can move forward we must acknowledge and learn from the past.
History happened. I know that most of the time U.S. history isn't all that pleasant to dwell on, and at times quite disturbing, but a consistent and accurate account of history needs to be taught in schools throughout the U.S. if we are ever going to attempt to heal old wounds and move forward as a nation.
Work Cited:
Kass, John. "Teacher's Lesson about Racism Offends His Bosses." Chicago Tribune.
Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.
Click here to check out the article
I believe that the way we teach U.S. history in the American public school system is an issue we face today. While I do believe the history that is taught in schools today has gotten much better in recent years, it differs widely across the country because the way history is taught is debated controversially due to the many different thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, surrounding American's often times violent history. There are some areas of the United States that stifle an accurate depiction of history, like up in Monroe, MI, and others that change and alter it to suit their beliefs: a county in Georgia that teaches Creationism alongside of Evolution in public schools, a county in Texas that now refers to the slave trade as the atlantic triangular trade, are just a couple of disturbing examples and articulate the way that this is a national issue and not just one for the slave states. I believe that withholding knowledge, whether it's good or bad, holds society back, and before we can move forward we must acknowledge and learn from the past.
History happened. I know that most of the time U.S. history isn't all that pleasant to dwell on, and at times quite disturbing, but a consistent and accurate account of history needs to be taught in schools throughout the U.S. if we are ever going to attempt to heal old wounds and move forward as a nation.
Work Cited:
Kass, John. "Teacher's Lesson about Racism Offends His Bosses." Chicago Tribune.
Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.
Click here to check out the article
I wrote about something rather similar in one of my posts. It seems that teachers tend to skip over parts of history that were embarrassing for Americans, and if they do mention it at all, it's a short blurb that won't be on the test. I think what this teacher did is spectacular. Uncovering all parts of history is important for students to learn so they can understand the world and why it is the way it is. I also agree with your point of it helping mature the level of race -- if people understand what happened they can change the past for the future.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting, because I wrote about the same issue as well. In fact, that is part of my synthesis too. Overall, if I could generalize what I have learned throughout this course, it is that we are trying to repress the truth of what really happened, and not just white people. It is extremely important to teach the facts and I give props to this teacher for doing just that!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think its true that we have to learn from our history and schools shouldn't leave out important parts of our history no matter how awful they were.
ReplyDeletethanks everybody, I understand that certain parts of our history may not be appropriate for grade school, but we should not be teaching lies to our youth (Like Columbus "discovering" America), and by the time students are in high school there should be no more withholding of information, they are going to be adults soon and should know their history, good and bad. It also makes me wonder how so many historians can be complacent in teaching a skewed version of history, didn't they just spend an enormous effort, time, and money to learn the facts? I know it's not their fault, but there should be more discussions and debates regarding the teaching of U.S. history.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong"? It's a great book for busting some of the myths that students learn in early history classes: http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281
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