So I must say, I enjoyed reading An Incomplete Version of the Past that Silences Important Struggles because it really opened up my eyes to the world of public education. The author, Kirsten Gardner, specifically points out the education system in Texas, and how the board changed the curriculum to favor conservative views of the United States.
Before I negatively judge Texas however, it would be best to get both sides of the story, something that I feel Kirsten emphasizes.
When teaching our history, it’s almost impossible to not add one’s own personal bias, possibly slanting another’s view. So why, instead of just listening to the teacher lecture, shouldn’t the students participate themselves, and decipher for themselves why an occurrence happened? It’s inevitable that teachers will slant the view of their students by added one’s own personal opinion, not to mention the bias of the author who wrote the textbook. So instead of students being passive learners, they should be ACTIVE learners. Not only will this change the way students view the world, but it will also help the students develop critical thinking skills, an ability needed to acquire before entering college.
“The contemplation of different versions of the past, the analysis of evidence, and the willingness to complicate linear narratives-is not being taught in the current or proposed curriculums.”
With stating this from the article, we as students lack the ability to understand the meaning behind our past. Yes, we know that the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945, but do we fully comprehend why? What was Truman’s reasoning behind it? Did he consider the pros and cons? How did Japan feel after the incident? THIS is the type of history we should be learning. Because after all, the reasoning behind our country’s decision is what makes us who we are today; as a society and even as an individual.
I absolutely agree with the way you are thinking about this. I know that the past three years of high school I have learned history that exact same way. The teachers give us the facts, but there is no personal analyzing and concluding being made. I also think that the students should be active learners, and that the teachers should give them an opportunity to make their own opinions of why something was done in history. I think that is important because the students are actually learning the curriculum, not just memorizing names and dates. I know that if I was being taught that way I would know and understand a lot more about history than I do now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you stated here. You have made excellent points both here and in the socratic circle. I love how you point out that students need to be actively engaging in the 'why' of decisions made in the past not just the 'who, what, and when'. It is very beneficial as a student to actually analyze aspects of history, and it would probably help them memorize the facts about what happened. I understand teachers are paranoid now about test scores, so they make sure they cover all the material on the test and do not go really deeper, but I think it is more important to give students the analytical skills than testing well. I think you made some awesome points (:
ReplyDeleteI agree 100 percent with you. I really loved how you explained that we, as students, need to become ACTIVE learners, and not just passively accept what we are told. We need to go out and decipher things on our own and form our own perceptions of history. History shapes each individual in a specific way. People take from it lessons to learn, mistakes that shouldn’t be remade, etc. and if we are already told how and what to believe about history we don’t fully benefit from learning it. It is unavoidable though to go into a class taught by a human being and receive no opinion, bias, etc. We naturally will put our opinion into a historical event when we discuss it. The good thing is discussing the event. In that case someone can receive input from various people with multiple differing points of view, which will assist in the individual drawing his/her own opinion.
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