US History: The Pros And Cons Of US History

James Loewen , a professor of sociology, wrote a book named From Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, which was published in 1996. In the book, Loewen claims that the American public education system poorly teaches history. He states that this is due to appease and induce overt sense patriotism and nationalism. This leads to the information being false, misleading, boring, and Disneyfied.

American history has been altered consistently by textbook companies, leaving out important details which introduce the focuses in a lighter manner and leaves the learner asking questions.

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

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.

Among the many flaws American history textbooks have, one that stands out above the rest is heroification.

The last problem that Loewen mentions is that American History textbooks heroify many important figures and make them seem flawless. Not only do they heroify people, but they also do this with important events, for example, Loewen argues that the first Thanksgiving “...is a myth…” and that we heroify the pilgrims that allegedly ate with the

Never was I taught my ancestor’s side of the story until high school. Never have I heard of the Joseon Dynasty, Kublai Khan, or Qin Shi Huang, the history that was my forefather’s life. I always knew Columbus’s achievements as the discoverer of America, but I was not taught his abhorrent treatment to the Native Americans. I was told about the British royal family founded by Alfred the Great, but they never mentioned about the Japanese emperor. I was forced to memorize the facts from a Western-based history textbook, but never have they told me to remember even one date of the Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, or Japanese history.

After all, American Revolution, civil war, the establishment of the republican, and the election of American presidents were so dramatic for me, I learned these from my “American history to 1877” class. I was interested in learning American history, though I was only a foreign student. Professor Loewen found that, the problem of American history was taught dull and empty with lies to students, not interesting at all. He thought that simplified textbooks made high school students ignore the importance of American history. I completely agreed his opinion. In high school, I was taught that Columbus was an explorer and navigator. I read about he was greed, slavery, genocide. What he did to the American Indians is unacceptable. In my opinion, if my history teacher taught me these stories in my high school, I would put more attention in my history

Over the years, my family and I have visited numerous forts, museums, and parks during summer vacation that tell the story of our nation’s past. Standing in the same places as many influential people have stood tends to make me want to explore the stories of the events which unfolded there. History is a giant story of the entire world which I can use to learn from the mistakes and victories of the past. Studying history allows me to understand how events unfolded and affected other people. Through thorough study of history, it becomes easier for me to find parallels between the past and present day events. Taking AP US History would allow me to challenge myself to better understand the history of our nation and the way our nation has

History is so important because it allows students to make informed decisions in the future by looking at the failures and successes of previous events. For example, many college freshmen are allowed to vote in the presidential election for the first time which is a big responsibility because they have the ability to vote the next leader of the free world into office. If their college did not make them take a history class many of students are most likely going to go in the voting booth very uninformed and pick a candidate primarily on their looks and what their friends and family think of each candidate or just simply vote because they have no idea what is going on and who to vote for. This is such a problem because they can not pick a candidate that correlates to their own values and beliefs, but simply what others want and believe. On the contrary if the college forced

Mrs. McPhee is not meeting any state standards that will prepare her students for the test nor next year’s material. She is simply relating history to what her students would possibly like to learn about, instead of teaching them what they need to learn about. If Dr. Gutierrez was to agree on Mrs. McPhee’s proposal, Dr. Gutierrez would face several issues as well. She would hear that her 8th grade history department was “watered down” in several different areas. This new history curriculum would not touch on the areas of elected officials, foreign affairs, and several other important pieces of history.

In America, there are many rich histories that helped create the lands. The history goes as far back as to when there were only thirteen colonies. The history even goes as far back as Christopher Columbus sailing the ocean. America’s history is one that is taught all over and in many many schools. Some of the histories taught are The American Revolution, the Louisiana Purchase, and the African-American Civil rights movement.

The history that is discussed in classrooms today is not what it once was. History is no longer held with the same value as it was once before. History repeats itself. We can learn the story of history and unpack it to understand. Through history we can learn the effects of change. Through history we learn so much.

Learning about the history of the United States is an incredibly valuable journey. As a part of this learning process students better understand society and how it works, and can more fully discern different mindsets seen through history and how that is significant. History is also important because in every generation of students there are future leaders, presidents, fathers, mothers, etc. These people need to be properly educated in the past so they can see how to live their own lives to avoid the mistakes of people in similar roles in the past; and also to see what worked well for them. Before APUSH, I struggled with many academic skills. I never understood the value of reading a textbook word for word. I couldn’t see connections between

Our history is part of who we are, if you lose that then it is part of yourself that you lost. Many dont seem to realize how our history effects us, not knowing the pride you could feel from knowing what the ancesters of our country went through and living in the land they helped create. Every pioneer that that helped settle this country is an ancester of america. Shouldnt we learn their story? Each one of them has a unique story that helped create the country into what it is today. Their story should be taught to our children from a very young age so they have more connection to the people they are a decendent of. They should not only be told what happened, they should be told how it came about and also what the resalt of after and how it