US History - different perspectives...
By miamilady
@miamilady (4910)
United States
August 21, 2009 9:48am CST
I had to stop for just a moment to decide if I wanted to post this here in politics or if I should perhaps, just post it under "school".
Is there an interested here in myLot titled "history"? If so, I haven't seen it.
Anyway. I just wanted to share this and I thought, just maybe, politics would be the appropriate place.
I have two children. One, a junior in high school. The other, beginning 8th grade this year. My oldest is in a private Christian high school (please don't jump to conclusions about me because of this). My son, the 8th grader is in a public school.
Coincidently, they will both have a class in "US History" this year.
My daughters class will be "US History from a Christian perspective" I think that's even the title on her textbook.
My son, will be taught the public school version of US history. My daughter happened to have the same teacher while she was at my son's school, do I have an idea of what and how he teaches. He doesn't teach the "traditional" version of US history. At least, not exactly the same version that I was taught back when I was in school.
I am looking forward to seeing what they are taught from the different perspectives.
It may make for some interesting conversations this year.
What do you all think about the idea that people base their ideas of history from different perspectives. Do you ever put much thought into this? Do you believe you "know" what happened in the past? Or do you realize that we all have just learns someone's "version" of things that have happened in the past?
Of course, some things have been documented and are pretty much not open for debate. But there are other things in history that people do truly see from different perspectives (or teachings?)
5 people like this
13 responses
@clrumfelt (5597)
• Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee
21 Aug 09
There is already an interest entitled "history." The icon is a stack of books with a clock on top. You can always add a topic as one of your interests and if the category doesn't already exist, MyLot will add it.
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
21 Aug 09
I'll have to look for it and add it to my interests. Thanks for the info.
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
21 Aug 09
Of course you are going to get different points of view. Take the Civil war, my family was from the North and my Hubby's from the South. In the South they are still fighting this war and in the North we never even talked about it until it came up in school. The South felt invaded and forced by the Government to change their entire life style, you know how we would feel if we were forced to do this now. Just look at the health care issue or the Gay rights issue, these alone make people fighting mad. The North felt that the Southern states had no right to leave the Union and needed to conform to the will of the majority. The bottom line was the war was fought for economic reasons, money or wealth is the base of all war. But don't try to tell a Southerner that they say it was Government intrusion into States rights.
And on and on it goes, different points of view.
1 person likes this
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
21 Aug 09
That would certainly be an interesting comparison of the textbooks and lectures. I can even remember waaay back when I was in school how American and World History textbooks were presented. Many chapters are just about the same now but some "peoples" and themes have changed since I learned history.
1 person likes this
@warmweatherwoman (2233)
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
21 Aug 09
I don't claim I "know" what happened in the past...but I also don't believe everything I read either. History is just that HIS-STORY....funny how the name says it all. It is other peoples accounts as to how they would like to portray the events of the past.
I have had the pleasure of having both types of teachers myself- the traditional one; you know, the one that teaches about how the mayflower came over and made friends with the Indians and had a Thanksgiving. And I also had the one that taught that Thanksgiving didn't "happen" the way traditionals taught it....it was more like a slaughtering of the Indians and taking over of the land type of deal. I have come to respect both but in the same sense it has taught me to form my own opinion and base it on the evidence I myself find. Never just believe what is in any textbook or what someone tells you- always question it for yourself and research it. I believe the reason some may call me a bit of a "conspieracy theorist" these days is mainly due to having teachers that were not afraid to teach the differences people actually believe in the world- rather then what is just in the textbooks ;)
Please keep us (or at least me ;)) informed on any differences you may find in thier teachings...as Religion alot of the time has a VERY different view on what may have happened ;)
1 person likes this
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
24 Aug 09
I'm sure there are different perspectives. Consider the war between the states. The south believed in states rights, the north wanted to preserve the union. Who was right as far as the Constitutions goes? You could be having some really interesting debates around the dinner table this year.
When I was in school, what we mostly learned were names and dates. We rarely got into cause and effect. I was in a public school and believe I missed out on a lot of history. We would start with Columbus or the pilgrims and go to reconstruction and then start all over again, as if that was all there was of American history, from 1492 through the 1860's.
@connierebel (1557)
• United States
21 Aug 09
Even though history is supposed to be based on facts, you'll get many different versions of almost any historical occurrence, based on the individual perspectives of whoever writes the books. I generally form my own opinions based on what I read from several different sources. That is why I never liked history when I was in school, as I usually had very different opinions from what was taught in the history books. I do find that the different perspectives and versions make for interesting discussions, except they can turn into quite heated arguments when there is something I feel very strongly about.
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
21 Aug 09
Most historical records are biased. History is often written from an author's viewpoint, and if the author is biased and dishonest, then the record will most definitely be one-sided. For instance, when we talk about Thanksgiving, we often talk of our forefathers celebrating and giving thanks but rarely talk about the fact that there are Native Americans to whom the same event brings nothing but sorrow; when we talk about the Alama, we talk about Sam Houston and his troop beating the daylights out of Santa Ana but never talk about the fact that there are Mexicans who never relinquished their annexed homelands. This is why I am of the habit of reading various perspectives on any topic before coming to conclusion.
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
22 Aug 09
I am kind of frightened and concerned about the teaching of any subject from any religious perspective (this coming from an ordained minister, chaplain, and long-time spiritual individual.) However, the inescapable fact is, that all of our curriculum, history especially, is told from a very biased perspective. They say "history books are written by those who do the hanging." I prefer to quote Orwell on this: "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." If one takes a gander into really studying history, then they can clearly see we are lied to on a regular basis--on this matter alone I could go on for a long time, everything from the civil war, the treaty of paris, the Gulf of Tonkin (which never actually happened) the fed, (Federal Reserve sold to us on a number of lies, I cite "The Creature From Jekyll Island" on that point) to the so-called defeat of the nazis (Operation "Paper Clip"--Germany was defeated--the nazis were assimilated into our country, as statesmen, psychologists, physicians, rocket scientists and more), or for those who don't want to delve too deeply into the research but want to see some factual evidence, there's always the "Reece Committee" report and Charlotte Iserbyte's "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.") Of course, history is largely biased, we wouldn't want people to see that the march towards facism is repeating itself, for people to by heart the principles in which this country was founded on, for people to realize they've been decieved most of their life, or more simply that our nation and its "allies" aren't always the good guys were led to believe them to be.
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
21 Aug 09
Everything depends on your point of view.I don't care as long as the kids are taught the correct dates.I was lucky.I had some great history teachers.I like studying history to this day.But a class could get a teacher who has a completely point of view of history.You are right .This should be a interesting year.ps.History is an interest you can add here.It's on my list.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
22 Aug 09
Well I don't know how much things have changed in the teaching of US history since I've gone to school and yes, public school, but it wasn't until I got into college and took an anthropology course about Native American cultures that I realized what a pack of lies were taught, meaning one was never taught American history from the Native American viewpoint, only the grand glorious Manifest Destiny type crap and the "courageous" pioneers who settled all over the country...like uh, never mind people (Native) already lived there...I was still taught American history with the sense of the "savage" brutal Indians who had to be eliminated...what a crock!
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
21 Aug 09
I think a very good discussion...but hard for me to chime in, as a Canadian! There are many forms, versions, ideas about how all evolved, and you get great respect from me allowing your children to experience it all! Please keep us informed as to the different teaching methods & versions. Cheers!
@6precious102 (4043)
• United States
23 Aug 09
I'm afraid I'm suspicious of the history that's taught in public schools since I hear that it's been revised. Those who were shown to be heroes when I was in public school are now villains. I've heard that the rewritten history doesn't give much if any evidence for the claims they make, but we're just suppose to accept them because "they" say that's how it was. What I hope your children do is verify anything that they're taught. Don't accept just because a teacher or text book says that's how it was. Ask questions. Would the teacher's or text book's evidence stand up in a court of law? Encourage your children to think and reason.
@LetranKnight25 (33117)
• Philippines
22 Aug 09
I'd rather read books, books, and more books rather listening to some people using tactics to make history class a lot more entertaining. it's all in the books, whether pepople might doubt if everything in the books is a fact, better than completely listening to some one who thinks they know so much
