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Are we expecting too much out of schools and not enough out of ourselves?
I don't need a history course to ask myself: Did we really have a civil war in this country? Why? When was it? Who won? Who lost? What were they thinking? Could it have been prevented?
People can learn things that are not taught in school, and the whole point of school is to learn how to learn, both when required to and when one is simply curious about something.
I think you have to be realistic about what average people are interested in knowing. Many people don't care whether we had a civil war. They don't care what happened ten years ago. They don't believe it matters to them and doesn't make any difference in their life.
I have a brother who basically feels that any knowledge that doesn't have a monetary value is not worth knowing. He doesn't read books. He doesn't care about politics because he thinks all politicians are crooks. He thinks history is a waste of time. He says he has never needed any kind of math other than arithmetic so he doesn't understand what benefit I got from taking classes like algebra or calculus. He is very good at working with his hands, and would rather do things himself rather than pay someone. He does most of his own vehicle repair, electrical work, plumbing and remodeling.
The point of education is to expose people to subjects that many will not take the time to learn after they get out of school. For example, I doubt I would've been motivated to read Shakespeare, Steinbeck or Hemingway if I would not have been required to read those authors in school. Schools should expose you to subjects to you have a certain level of cultural literacy, not that you have deep understanding of those subjects.
I am most surprised by the number of people that get their US History education from talking points, so much so that it's taught in school
For instance:
The Civil War was about slavery and most people were against it. Or that Abraham Lincoln's goal was to end slavery vs win the war
It's seriously sad that Abe's photo is held up so much during "African American History Month"
Wanna know what people REALLY thought at that time (or before being PC was a thing)? Go back and find some books written prior to 1982 - even those in the "historical" fiction section are more accurate than books written today. Many of those have been re-written and re-published with changes after the later 80s. (You'll have to check out a used book store for these, and even then, they can be harder to find)
While the history may not be 100% accurate, you'll find more truth in the fiction books by looking at the vernacular used, as well as general societal opinions.
I learned about Germany, Hitler and Nazis from my great grandmother and her sister, plus their many cousins. And there were all those letters that disappeared... history is written by the victors my friends - and rewritten by embarassed descendants years later.
I am most surprised by the number of people that get their US History education from talking points, so much so that it's taught in school
For instance:
The Civil War was about slavery and most people were against it. Or that Abraham Lincoln's goal was to end slavery vs win the war
It's seriously sad that Abe's photo is held up so much during "African American History Month"
Wanna know what people REALLY thought at that time (or before being PC was a thing)? Go back and find some books written prior to 1982 - even those in the "historical" fiction section are more accurate than books written today. Many of those have been re-written and re-published with changes after the later 80s. (You'll have to check out a used book store for these, and even then, they can be harder to find)
While the history may not be 100% accurate, you'll find more truth in the fiction books by looking at the vernacular used, as well as general societal opinions.
I learned about Germany, Hitler and Nazis from my great grandmother and her sister, plus their many cousins. And there were all those letters that disappeared... history is written by the victors my friends - and rewritten by embarassed descendants years later.
Every single history class should spend a few classes watching the PBS documentary The Civil War. Its complicated and tragic and with many facets and not 'simple'. When I took US history, one our main readings were things written IN the time, and then we had debates. You had to argue your point (including defending slavery with someone else taking the opposite view) FROM arguments of the time. People act as their time teaches them to. We should look at the whys and the events which drive history, not some comfy illusion that makes people feel better now. And quit BLAMING people who are dead and gone for centuries for making the choices they did. Walk in their shoes with some study and see how they viewed their world.
Communism, and the virulent ignorance of it that still besets American political thought, 25 years after the fall of communism.
I was just in a discussion with a poster who thought Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire) was a former communist state, to which was attributed its failure right up to the present. The fact is, Zaire was never a communist state, and its perpetual failure lies directly at the feet of Mobutu, the brutal dictator who was appointed to head the country for 32 years by the Americans,and armed at great American expense to keep Mobutu murderously in power as a bastion against any communist (or any other opposition) sentiments in the tyrannical country. Zaire had the most militantly anti-communist government in the world, yet its communism gets blamed for its ills to this very day.
This is just an example of how Americans have been spoon-fed anti-communist rhetoric, to the point where it is widely held everything that has ever gone wrong was directly the fault of communists. Even where communists had nothig to do with it. Many Americans just assume that Hitler was a communist.
Communism, and the virulent ignorance of it that still besets American political thought, 25 years after the fall of communism.
I was just in a discussion with a poster who thought Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire) was a former communist state, to which was attributed its failure right up to the present. **********
This is just an example of how Americans have been spoon-fed anti-communist rhetoric, to the point where it is widely held everything that has ever gone wrong was directly the fault of communists. Even where communists had nothig to do with it. Many Americans just assume that Hitler was a communist.
I think you're taking one bad example very far out of context. The fact is that Communism had enslaved billions and is now mercifully confined to North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
I am fed up with people attacking the West for having to support imperfect people who are culturally appropriate to certain areas. Someone like Martin Luther King would not have lasted a day as leader of Zaire. We were not duty-bound to let the Former Soviet Union rule the world.
I'm not sure if this counts as "history", but I've come across people online who have no idea that Arizona is NOT entirely a desert, and that we don't still live like it's the "Wild West" era. (Yes, there ARE people who believe this, some of them were from the US)
I also encountered a guy from Nigeria some years back, who had no idea what the terms "Third Reich", Holocaust", or "Josef Goebbels" meant.
I'm not sure if this counts as "history", but I've come across people online who have no idea that Arizona is NOT entirely a desert, and that we don't still live like it's the "Wild West" era. (Yes, there ARE people who believe this, some of them were from the US)
I also encountered a guy from Nigeria some years back, who had no idea what the terms "Third Reich", Holocaust", or "Josef Goebbels" meant.
I think every state has misperceptions. There's a woman who works at my local drugstore who came from some other part of the country because her husband is stationed here with the Coast Guard, and she told me she was shocked that New Jersey is "so green". Um, yeah, it's called "the Garden State". Some people seem to think the entire state looks like the NJ Turnpike where the refineries are, because that's all they saw through their car window.
Just like I've only ever seen the northwest corner of Arizona.
People generally don't seem to be aware of very much that's gone on in the world beyond their own lifetime. Maybe things have always been that way, but I don't think so. It used to be that more people seemed to have a little familiarity with some major historical milestones. It used to be the case that anyone with a formal education knew a bit about ancient Greek culture, the Roman Empire, medieval England and France, a bit about Napoleon, Queen Victoria, the development of the U.S. before WW2... now most people seem to know just about nothing about these things.
Maybe history has taken a backseat to so many other subjects in schools. It has to compete for class time with things like computer studies, business, more world languages classes than ever before, and more modern curriculum inventions like Psychology, Economics, Environmental Studies, and a huge variety of things that can be available depending upon the school.
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