In the introduction of the book, ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me: Something has gone wrong’ James W. Loewen mainly discusses about the hatred that high school students have for history. James states that students avoid taking history even when they score high grades in the subject. The book points out that the African-Americans, Native Americans, and Latino students are mainly the students who dislike history. This forces the teachers to disregard the use of the huge compressed books and revamp the American history courses in an attempt to make the students develop a high morale for the subject. Further, the author emphasizes that American history is remarkable and full of attractive and important stories so he does not need to convince anyone of its significance.
He addresses the reasons as to why students hate history. The first reason lies in the huge historic books. Most students consider the huge history books boring. The main stories written in them are predictable considering every problem has been solved thus they lack the suspense, which makes them boring. The textbooks do not use the present to explain about the past. The other reason of developing resentment is dues to mix up by the huge desire to promote blind patriotism. The textbooks blind the students about the nature of history since it makes them believe that it contains of facts, which are supposed to be learned.
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Also, in the first chapter of ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me: Handicapped by History,’ James discusses about heroism. He states that many historical books explain about heroes of the past. The main point presented in this book is to prove how African-American heroes have been included in historic books. This chapter aims at proving why many students dislike reading historic books. According to James, most historic books are one-dimensioned. Two heroes, Wilson and Keller, have been discussed in that chapter. He further emphasizes that historic books omit the truths without lying. The books omit about Wilson’s racism. He reviews twelve books and concludes that out of the twelve, only four express racial policies.
Taking into consideration of the two books, I strongly agree with the main point presented that African-American students develop a strong dislike for history course due to the content in the books. A study taken in 1982 in Midwest that revealed the strong negative attitude that students have towards social studies could be used in support of this point. The study revealed that most students consider the class and historical books boring. The methods that have been discusses in chapter one of, “Something has gone wrong,” where historical accounts consists of conflicts and contradictions would help in making students develop interest in history subjects. However, some history departments explain that studying history is beneficial and competitive in the job field.
The books by James directly connect to the article, “Deconstructing differences in African-American and European-American Adolescents’ Perspectives on U.S. History,” by Terrie Epstein. Even so, this article mainly discusses about the reforms recommended for the traditional narrative on U.S. history learning. In a study where a group of African-Americans and another of European-Americans adolescents were asked to discuss about themes in the U.S., they developed different explanations according to their perspectives of their understanding. The differences in their understanding are believed to have been due to their racial differences.
The proposals of the reforms are intended at incorporating the African-Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans into the historical narratives on the nation’s development. Another reform is the contemporary curricular frameworks for teaching U.S. history in the public schools. This reform has helped to regain perspectives that were used to teach history. The first perspective that was adopted in 1987 is the California Historical-Social Science Framework, which advocates for the embracement of individual rights and the democratic rule that appeals for the freedom of the nation’s opportunities. The second perspective is about teaching about the racial groups experiences in the U.S. history. Another reform made includes the setting and methodology of teaching history. In an example cited in the article, the author states that her teacher explained that the non-colored people contributed in various events such as in the Civil War. The teacher’s aim was to make the writer to develop interest in American history.
The article mainly aims at settling the differences between the various groups and bringing the non-colored groups to adolescents to develop a liking for the history subject. In my reaction, I support the notion that the various reforms developed to make African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans will assist in developing their liking of the American history. The reforms act as incentives in making history a fun subject to learn.
From the three articles, it is evident that most African-American students dislike history. This arouses many questions. Should the subject be rubbed of the curriculum? In addition, for those that likes the subject. What makes them consider taking history subject unlike their counterparts? Is it due to career purposes or for the passion?
