History. Our second favorite subject after English. What should be in the history books that we read? Who is to decide what should be in them? Should a certain religion be more highlighted than it already is? Does it matter if certain groups are not represented in history? Who should be left in and who should be kicked out?
History books should contain facts and that is it. Although it is hard to do this without taking a side it should be tried. An objective point of view is the best point of view. The way we see things may not be the same way other people may see things and that I believe should be respected. Germans in Germany may believe that Hitler was a self-righteous man doing the world a favor and that the Americans were at fault by engaging in warfare. Although we might think differently we cannot sit here and judge them based upon what they have learned. Different people will have varying viewpoints on what is right and what is wrong, and although we do not have to agree we should be respectful.
The people who decide what should be written in history books are historians and college professors that have extensive learning in the field. It should not be politicians and it definitely should not be reverends. This is because historians and college professors know what is important and what should be taught. They know what kids should learn to get the overall grasp of what was going on in the past. And although they may bring a slight bias it is nowhere near the biased that a reverend would bring when expressing what should be in history books.
As far as religion goes I don’t think that history books are the right venue in which to articulate ones beliefs. The amount of emphasis that Christianity gets in the history books that we have right now is fine. It doesn’t need to be lessened or greatened. Leave religion for church and facts to history.
America today is not the same America as it was 200 years ago, not by a long shot. America today is a myriad of many cultures, races, and religions while America back in the day it was predominantly white. It is important that today’s minority groups are represented in history books. Just because the minority groups weren’t there from the beginning doesn’t mean that they should be totally neglected and forgotten. It would be nice to see how the many cultures got to where they are today.
When it comes to who should be left in history books and who should be left out my belief is this; if a person or a group of people made a profound affect on history then there is no reason to exclude them. Anne Hutchinson, Caesar Chavez, and Thurgood Marshall should not be left out of history just because they had different beliefs than those of what was common. These people did affect history and should be left in.
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I Agree with you on your example of German Nazi's and their view on the Nazi Regime. We cannot account for how others people see certain things one person may see one thing as right and another that same thing as wrong. But we can in a history text book as objectively as possible mention the fact of their current opinion. As in my blog i mentioned my Academic Decatholon study on Civil War there was simply stories and articles on the civil war. The different views from the Union, the Confederacy, and even from the aboriginees involved. At this age we can be responsible to make our own opinions but at a public school education should be as you said, base facts and as objective as possible
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there will always be differing view points on histrorical events. And it is not up to us to judge someone who sees history in a different light than us. We should try to take into account these other opinions and understand why they have a different view than ourselves. I also agree that politicians should not have a say in what is written in history books, and that it should be up to history teachers and professors to determine what is important. But teachers and professors can also be influenced by lifelong biases.
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ReplyDeleteI liked your idea about people viewing different issues the way they believe is right or the way they were taught. Having said that, that shows clearly that not everyone has the same thoughts and therefore one way or another things will always differ.For that reason its makes it an issue on what topics should be put in history books. In addition, i think how you talked about the relation between religion and history to be of quite importance. It is up to the college professors and those who have knowledge of history to decide what goes in students history books. I agree that having a reverend or politician perform such decisions would cause a lot of bias on their part. History does contain a significant part of religion, but like you said, it is important to leave it as it is already in context, and not to add or remove any amount of religious influence in history. Finally i believe it just as important to include minority groups in history because they played a role in helping our history develop, if they were not included we would be missing valuable facts in our history. Well said and good job
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