Is most USA history, as taught, really false? (kids, job, facts)
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I ask this question because I have constantly had to correct my own children on what they have been taught in school which is the same thing I was taught when I was in school and much of it was false or at least misleading. For example, we were and still are taught that it was Paul Revere that rode through the hamlets and villages of New England warning people that the British were coming when in fact the person that did that was a postal worker named Israel Bissell. Paul Revere actually did the opposite thing and rode TO the Brits to warn them that the Americans were armed.
That video I posted awhile back, had the lady that use to head some educational board, talking about dumbing down our kids and parents.
I took a class on American History in college and was flabbergasted at how different certain situations throughout our history are told to our children as opposed to how they really happened. I can somewhat understand it though. Its important to raise children to love their country and its history. The United States has a lot of dark things in its history that is best not told to our children in a classroom until college.
Just a few examples:
I didn't know of France's extensive aid and involvement in the American Revolutionary War until I took American History in college.
In middle school, we learned that Benjamin Franklin invented several theories regarding electricity. We didn't learn that he was also extremely xenophobic towards non-Anglo immigrants. If he hated Germans, imagine what he thinks of today's Mexican immigrants!
We learned in middle school that The South supported slavery. We didn't learn that they brought Bible versus to congress meetings supporting their claims though.
"The Jewish people as a whole will be its own Messiah. It will attain world dominion by the dissolution of other races, by the abolition of frontiers, the annihilation of monarchy, and by the establishment of a world republic in which the Jews will everywhere exercise the privilege of citizenship. In this "new world order" the children of Israel will furnish all the leaders without encountering opposition. The Governments of the different peoples forming the world republic will fall without difficulty into the hands of the Jews. It will then be possible for the Jewish rulers to abolish private property, and everywhere to make use of the resources of the state. Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, in which is said that when the Messianic time is come, the Jews will have all the property of the whole world in their hands"
The chief purpose of THE VOLTAIRE SOCIETY OF AMERICA INCORPORATED is to foster the spirit of the Enlightenment, tolerance and respect for the rights of the individual as exemplified by the life of Voltaire and as reflected in the beliefs of his contemporaries, the founders of the United States.
"The Jewish people as a whole will be its own Messiah. It will attain world dominion by the dissolution of other races, by the abolition of frontiers, the annihilation of monarchy, and by the establishment of a world republic in which the Jews will everywhere exercise the privilege of citizenship. In this "new world order" the children of Israel will furnish all the leaders without encountering opposition. The Governments of the different peoples forming the world republic will fall without difficulty into the hands of the Jews. It will then be possible for the Jewish rulers to abolish private property, and everywhere to make use of the resources of the state. Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, in which is said that when the Messianic time is come, the Jews will have all the property of the whole world in their hands"
I don't mean to be the spoiler but Marx died in 1883.
Last edited by BigJon3475; 08-30-2011 at 07:39 AM..
History books are written by the winners... winners with their own opinions... take history with a grain of salt...
In this case it was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow almost one hundred years after the actual incident and it is a poem called "The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere".
Relax people this version is not in our history books, at least it wasn't in mine, it is just that we remember the poem more than we do the history we were taught.
Was Revere supposed to have been a traitor or do the teabaggers want to make him out to be one? Why the hell would he go to the British to tell them we were armed?
Well, the colonists considered themselves British at the time so it's not so far off.
Something I remember from grade school, 4th or 5th grade I think (we didn't start studying history and geography till 4th grade) in the part where it talked about the first Thanksgiving the pilgrims "dined" while the Indians "chomped"
Wow. That is so subtle, but it is a fine example of how subtly the historians can slant a presentation. How amazing that of all things that is what stuck in your mind! Right on! You must have been quite precocious to even pick up on the difference.
Thank goodness I grew up NDN, and grew up knowing that American history as portrayed in the history books was tainted, at best. I lucked out and had pretty good history teachers. I remember one from the 9th grade who simply blasted Andrew Jackson. I mean she blasted him and even cussed. (I lived in OK, so it was quite relative to many of us kids) Told us that she was not suppose to present it in that way but she was going to provide us the truth. She portrayed that bestid for what he was, America's Hitler. I always respected her for that.
I ask this question because I have constantly had to correct my own children on what they have been taught in school which is the same thing I was taught when I was in school and much of it was false or at least misleading. For example, we were and still are taught that it was Paul Revere that rode through the hamlets and villages of New England warning people that the British were coming when in fact the person that did that was a postal worker named Israel Bissell. Paul Revere actually did the opposite thing and rode TO the Brits to warn them that the Americans were armed.
Most? /shrug
I wouldn't make such a generalized claim.
I however have seen such in my education (I was educated in a very liberal school) and have caught many professors embellishing certain views and relying on sources that were extremely weak in their support.
If you are studying anything from the past, you have to dig, then dig some more, and when you are done, go back and dig and look under that. It is a nightmare at times trying to trace some historical references as they at times are massive circular citations with no original sourcing to be found as well summaries of intent based on selective citation of support.
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You must have been quite precocious to even pick up on the difference.
