Sunday, March 3, 2019
Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong
James Loewens admit entitled Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your Ameri fire History Book Got incorrect speaks of criticism against twelve American history school texts that mislead readers by representing facts and viewpoints that argon actually far from truth.There is often a hitch of twist in the way history is being presented nowadays, what Loewen (2008) defined as heroification or a degenerative process that contrives people over into heroes turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, sinless creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest (p.19). From the Pilgrims up the occurrence of the Vietnam War, this Eurocentric manner of formulating the teaching of history bears thoughts and issues, which push through to be very irrelevant to the views of normal lives.Main BodyLoewen (2008) has inserted in his book the words of W.E.B. Du Bois when he verbalizeOne is astonished in the study of history at the yield of the idea that evil must be forgotten, d istorted, skimmed over The difficulty, of course, with this ism is that history paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not declaim the truth (p.18). In Loewens book, it is emphasized how history textbooks, which be use today in education, proclaim misleading evidences and details that abuse heroification and consecrate the angle away from truth.It emphasizes too overmuch on positive qualities that excrete an overly-emphasized meaning that take a hop significant lessons, while distorting the negative characteristics of history and its heroes. By this, students unremarkably find significant lessons in them, such as, for example, Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller. As Loewen (2008) stated, Wilson was usually pictured as an important president, while Keller was an inspiration to the blind and deaf students of this century (pp.19-20).However, as Loewen (2008) stated, Heroification so distorts the lives of Keller and Wilson (and many others) that we cannot think straight roughly them (p.20). It takes away the truth fag real people and events by presenting them in a way that leads to a specific objective and design. It fabricates peoples minds after a certain framework that would theoretically lead to a basic viewpoint, picture, or assumption.Questions that are raised in Loewens book consist of the following (1) How true and accurate are the details that are being presented in educational textbooks in the field of history? (2) How much morality do the authors, publishers, adoption committees, and teachers nowadays possess in presenting facts and issues that should reflect fair, non-bias, and factual details of history? (3) What are the exact causes why around elementary and secondary students find the lectures of history bland, boring, and almost senseless? (4)How can the process of heroification lead to more positive, truthful, fair, yet fruitful results? Lastly, (5) what can authors, publishers, and teachers do to highlight the truth behind Loew ens statement that history is an on-going process that is influenced by specific events, environments, and characteristics of the past. My general perception after information the authors viewpoints or perspectives is that, Loewen (2008) has failed to analyze the other end of the pole, which reflects that, front to a youths desire to be one of the keen men of his time, there first has to be the episode of mental and mental stimulation and inspiration, before one can project positive results and actions that make history a lot more worthwhile.ConclusionI sense of smell that this book of Loewen (2008) is the very thing needed to emphasize the truth behind the statement that history is an ongoing process that is being lived by on the account of ones everyday life. The reading has helped me to formulate my confess ideas regarding education, as it reflected the issues of accuracy, morality, and the different tactics used in trying to play along up with a structure that makes hero es appear like what the readers would expect them to appear all faultless, perfect, and absolute. It is, however, far from the truth.ReferenceLoewen, J.W. (2008). Lies my teacher told me everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York, NY New Press.
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