Summary: Do Textbooks Make No Claim Of The Recent Past?

After reading this chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me, the reader finds out information that is shocking and completely different compared to what they have been taught. Not to mention it makes sense. Ideas have either been falsified or twisted into something that is not entirely true. History textbooks really do leave out the information or give the wrong information, that could really make history more enjoyable and interesting for its

To begin, in the prefix of “Who Owns History”, the author, Eric Foner hints at what the whole book will be about the way history is taught will be the way we are able to view it. In the prefix the author wrote about all the different experiences he had and how he viewed the change in history. Eric Foner explained, “ History always has been and always will be regularly rewritten, in response to new questions, new information…” While the author explains this he’s describing how we change the way history is viewed. The way you are taught it will be the cause of you seeing it in a different way than other people might have seen the same topic at hand. History will be constantly evolving due our ever changing society, we all have a different perspective

In The Death of History is Bunk, Patrick Watson argues that the decrease of historical content in the curriculum does not indicate that history, as a subject, is declining. While many complain about the decreasing prominence of history classes in Canadian schools, the content of those classes is excessively dull as it consists of memorizing lists of facts. Despite this, there are still protests that knowledge of “defining events” is required to contribute to “the National Conversation”. However, history is not so simple as a list of events—it is the sum of the small happenings in society around the events. A whole variety of factors influence history, which is created by the common people. Unlike Americans, who turn to their constitution for

High school history textbooks are seen, by students, as presenting the last word on American History. Rarely, if ever, do they question what their text tells them about our collective past. According to James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, they should be. Loewen has spent considerable time and effort reviewing history texts that were written for high school students. In Lies, he has reviewed twenty texts and has compared them to the actual history. Sadly, not one text measures up to the author's expectation of teaching students to think. What is worse, though, is that students come away from their classes without "having developed the ability to think coherently about social

This study would closely analyze various aspects related to “Thinking Through the Past” by John Hollitz. The author attempts to bring forth certain critical factors, which are closely knitted U.S. history. It can be stated that the major challenge is to identify actual facts embedded in the past. There is a need to reflect upon particular questions and determine probable explanations. When we become skilled at historical reasoning, we are able to better acquire knowledge about the world. History texts usually encompass a practical purpose. In this study, the main aim is to focus on historical evidences associated with U.S. history. Historians are often witnessed to contradict one another. This is simply due to source of motivation, which eventually drags a historian towards a standpoint. “Thinking Through the Past” is an approach undertaken by John Hollitz in order to make students aware about specific reasons that had triggered some well-known battles of U.S. This study shall revolve around the debate, which took place over Philippines, and significance of gender in such controversy. There shall be some views highlighted given by Kristin L. Hoganson on gender concerns.

(An analysis of how the authors Hughes, Clifton and McElroy and how they use history in their works.)

As the professor James W Loewer, author of the book, referred that Americans have lost touch with their history. Our teachers and textbooks play important roles in our history study. However, it is their eliding and misrepresenting factoids that have been obstacles in our history studying. Because access to too much errors and distortion, many Americans can hardly understand the past of the country. As a result, we lack the ability to reflect on what’s going on right now and in the future.

“Eleven chapters have shown that textbooks supply irrelevant and even erroneous details, while omitting pivotal questions and facts in their treatments of issues...” (Loewen, pg. 301). Throughout this book, Loewen

The study of history and the teaching of history has come under intense public debate in the United States in the last few decades. The “culture-wars” began with the call to add more works by non-Caucasians and women and has bled into the study of history. Not only in the study of history or literature, this debate has spread into American culture like wildfire.

James Loewen uses his piece Lies my Teacher Told Me to reveal the flaws in America’s mainstream textbooks. Loewen points out the fact that textbooks try to “indoctrinate blind patriotism” (Loewen 6) and “keep students in the dark about the nature of history” (Loewen 8). Almost every American textbook sells history using the “soft seduction” approach, as explained in Robert Greene’s book, The Art of Seduction. Textbooks try to seduce Americans into being proud of their country by making American historical figures look like heroes, like in the case of Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson, and Christopher Columbus. “Heroification” (Loewen 11) has a

James W. Loewen wrote the book “Lies My Teacher Told Me” to help students understand the past of the United States, and how it is effecting the present time. “Lies My Teacher Told Me” looks at 12 different American history textbooks, and points out the different lies, flaws, and sugar coated stories the textbooks present. Lowen explains how textbooks practice heroification, and how race and race relations are a major issue when it comes to American history. Among these topics, Lowen also sheds light on the truth about social classes in America, and how textbooks lie about the past and try to avoid the recent past all together.

Why should high schoolers be forced to read a book that isn’t interesting to them? Often times they either do not apply to real life situations or even teach anything that a teenager would understand. So, the high schooler skims through the book and does not pay attention to any detail. High school classrooms need better books that can teach history in a fun way, and add some interesting things to which students can reflect and think on. A book read in high school, should allow the students to think critically about the text they are reading, should include some references to history, and incorporate themes that are understandable and relatable to a high school student’s life. This makes a book want to be read as well as enjoyable. The

I especially found this chapter of the book very interesting. The way Loewen explained and compared between the sasha and zamani. In my opinion, It is a good idea to include recent history and events in our educational system. This can make history more interesting for the students, where they can connect those recent events with the past. In addition, it is always better to include and have a record of those recent events, because the may vanish over time or some details may become underplayed with time. The book gave good examples of how the time can change people’s perspective on an event or on famous characters like Woodrow Wilson and Columbus. A good point was made about blaming Wilson for his racial segregation, that back then this action

Perhaps the altered history books may blind the new generations of the previous faults, but it does not erase

It is a common and well known saying that history repeats itself. This saying has more to it than the literal definition of it, it means we need to study it and learn from it, in order to avoid repetition. Often times we have that opportunity to study and learn from history in a way that can impact the future, in a hopefully positive way. In terms of education, improvement and innovation is always a top priority. If we can properly combine the study of other cultures with the study of history, we can have an extremely effective tool for learning ways to positively impact our own generation and future. In this essay, I will attempt to uncover the differences between current education and traditional African education, with intention of learning how to apply it today. The idea behind studying history is that it is a vital part of learning and adopting successful techniques and a good tool for avoiding the repetition of mistakes. If pre-colonial Africa can have success without the resources and technologies we have today, then it is valuable to invest time and effort in mirroring some of their methods.