By Michael Haas
Lies My Teacher Told Me is a book by James W. Loewen that came out about ten years ago. The tag line reads, "Everything your American history textbook got wrong" but don’t let that fool you, because Loewen doesn't talk about details; he discusses ideas and themes in an intelligent criticism. He rips apart the way that history is taught in public schools, noting that textbooks miss the point of many of the stories they tell, while skewing and omitting facts in a deliberate attempt at making the U.S of America seem flawless, and duping the kids into believing they can do anything.
The book starts out innocently enough, on a topic that everyone is familiar with: how Chris Columbus is portrayed historically. The dozen books that he surveyed paint do not portray Chris as a man who uttered "I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men and govern them as I pleased" Columbus wiped out villages and began a tradition of disease, plundering, slavery and racism in the Americas whose affects are felt even to this day.
Our 28th President Woodrow Wilson is also one of the main bad men whom Loewen mentions often as a symbol of what is wrong with textbooks. Everything that Loewen hates about how historical figures are portrayed seems to be embodied by Wilson Wilson Wilson U.S.
The book goes on to discuss the myth of reconstruction, ripping how Helen Keller's story is taught (you can do anything! romanticism, when in reality she was a socialist) and the omission of how Native's got fucked over (wars, disease)
Loewen does a good job of going through inaccuracies, telling true stories and then explaining why and how the way it's currently taught is dangerous to the students. He attempts to explain why the events and people are skewed or omitted, usually blaming ethnocentrism, elitism or just plain stupidity. He also throws around some sociological ideas, such as the Orwellian line of thought - "who controls the present, controls the past"
But he also realizes that the textbook business is a business, and that often the publishers of the books are aware that some schools and states may not buy their book if any part of it is perceived to be unpatriotic or generally negative.
In conclusion, Loewen believes the textbooks present history as a succession of boring events, and as a line of progress. He particularly harps on the idea of progress in the textbooks.
"The faith in progress has promoted the status quo in the most literal sense, for it proclaims that to progress we must simply do more of the same. This belief has been particularly useful to the upper class, because Americans could be persuaded to ignore the injustice of social class if the they thought the economic pie was getting bigger for all."
His idea is that if you teach students that
This is the question that I took from the book:
Do we teach our children thatAmerica
Do we teach our children that
20 comments:
I thought you meant, lies teachers told us like: everyone will be writing in cursive after Christmas break.
Ignorance is bliss. Tell them the lies just like in sunday school. Otherwise they'll hate the world at a much younger age and wont amount to anything because theres too many powerful people who like it the way it is.
Horrible book. As someone who is months away from being a full time high school teacher I am well aware of the flaws in the public schools dealings with the way history is and has been taught. But to the uninformed reader "Lies" would seem to convey the message that the US has brainwashed its young citizens into believing we are great nations with influental and monumental leaders when in fact we are nothing of the sort. How does this author know all of the "true" stories of Columbus and others? Was he there? History is history because it is left to be debated, speculated over, discussed and analyzed. Never will anyone know exactly what happened and why and that is why the study of history is so interesting. True Columbus might not have been the best man but there was a point when everyone thought the world was round and that was taught to students. The more we evlove the more the way we educate our young evolves, and I can guarentee our public schools have made advancements in the last 10-20 years.
I find this book much in the same light as I do the dozens of whiny MSN, CNN and other cable network democrats who do nothing but spend all day bitching about everything that is wrong with this country.
If these people truly feel this way then it might be time for them to set up shop somewhere else, like Mexico, the Middle East or Africa. Something tells me this wont be the case but the reason this nation is so great is because all of those assholes can sit and bitch all day and their actions are protected by law.
Now never will I say that our school systems are flawless (they issued seperate history text books for Northern and Southern states up to the 1980's) but there is nowhere else on the planet that I would rather my own children be educated. At the risk of sounding overly patriotic, this is the best country on the globe and maybe the more time we spent working to fix the problems we have and the less we spend bitching and complaining about the past, the better off we all would be and so would our future generations.
yeah, i agree twinswin83.
people don't usually know the truth about anything. but to loewens defense, he cites with reliable primary sources many things he states in the book, and rips the textbook authors becuase he knows that they have come across those sources too. (look up Bartolomé de Las Casas)
and americas schools probably teach a more objective version of history than most nations, but loewen claims that it could easily easily easily be better.
i dont think he is bitching. i think he is concerned. and as an author and scholar, he attemps to turn as many people on to the issue as he can in the only way he knows how. i think his book has made a difference in the past 10 years.
I hated when Mr Croone lied to us saying that the field trip to the sewage treatment plant wasn't going to smell that bad. That was truly one of the worst experiences of my life.
And brex: I dont know. I was crushed when I realized my parents had lied to me my whole life about Santa Clause. When children come to the realization that these great and wonderful beings, like the Tooth Ferry, Santa, the Easer Bunny, among others, are lies, and that grandpa isn't really sleeping, he's actually dead and rotting forever in a grave, it shatters our innocence and accelerates our spite to the bitter reality.
I say let the kids know the ropes as early as possible to better prepare them for the weight of the world.
And some argue, let these kids have a wonderful childhood because the best memories of your life are those from your early years. Well of course they are because you were lied to the whole time. I want my best memories to be as an adult, because A) you can't remember most of your childhood anyways, and B) That would suck if your fondest times were as a kid, because that bridge has been long since passed.
I am not going to lie. I can say that I disagree with almost everything in Twinswin83 reply, which is funny because I am also getting my masters in Secondary Education.
In your reply you say, “History is history because it is left to be debated, speculated over, discussed and analyzed.” And I agree with you and I think that is a major point in Loewen’s book. These text books that are currently circulating our schools, do no offer these opposing viewpoints, instead they display many major events in our history as absolute facts that favor certain ideals and historical figures. Many textbooks don’t address the Native American cultures on the America’s for more than a few pages.
I also don’t think that when Loewen uses the word “lies” does he mean that America is not a influential country (because influence doesn’t always mean positive) or is he saying that EVERYTHING is wrong in the text books, i.e. names and dates. If anyone thinks that he is saying everything in textbooks is one purposeful lie, they should read the book again or (for the first time). What he is saying is that there is something fundamentally wrong with how textbooks are written and perceived due to the business and process of how these texts find themselves in front of young students. Pressure from school administrators to a favorable view of antiquity and the status quo are all contributors to the problem.
In Loewen's ideal textbook, events and people showing a multicultural triad of race, gender, and social class would prevail over the fascination on heroes and acts of government.
As for America being the greatest country on Earth, that’s a whole other conversation. I like America, hell I was born on the 4th of July, I better. But the comment about not worrying about the past and focusing more on the future brings two famous quotes to mind. One from George Orwell who says “Those who control the present control the past” and from George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I just think that it is extremely important for today’s and tomorrows adolescents to understand that Columbus didn’t just sail the ocean blue in 1492 (or whatever the song is). There was a civilization of multiple races equally advanced here before him and our textbooks should reflect that.
The main point I was trying to make is that as imperfect as it is, there is nowhere I would have rather been educated and there is nowhere I would like my own children to be educated then in the United States. There is no such thing as a perfect society or school system but I believe I was raised in one of the best there is and for that I am thankful. Many parts of our society have tried to reconsile and learn from the mistakes of our past (I spent much of my early education learning about the wrongs of slavery, the treatment of American Indians and the seperate but equal practices for the better half of the 20th century) and I believe that as we evolve so will our educational system.
Oh well if that was your point every study in the last 10 years has the US school system (not colleges and universities) somewhere below all of scandanavia, western europe, and parts of asia. But other than that, yes, America kicks ass.
OK, so your saying you would have rather grown up in those nations and been educated there then?
Well let me say that I am glad I grew up in the US but that doesn't mean I am glad I grew up in the US school system.
First, we are looking at this from the perspective of someone who went to Northfield schools, a town with two good liberal arts colleges. Nfld is a fairly well educated and well-off town and that translates to a fairly good school. (i.e. property taxes fund schools. I realize you moved here from another MN town, but for the sake of the discussion)
This is not how the US education is. We were lucky. But your point about where you are glad you grew up and the educational system are two different things.
I hope that clears it up.
well now i can understand why people dont like blogs - cuz jackasses like me think they can write.
i attempted to write an objective review of a book, but the author did a good job of conviencing me and that bias showed thru. its dumb to think that you can convience someone of something by summarizing a book. i got carried away and wrote in a too-serious tone. i take full reponsibility. bad journalism on my part.
ps - i appreciate peple commenting and willing to express their opinions. a lot of people won't
p.s.s. - read this book.
I have never been much of a quote person; quotes are only as good as the person who states them. Elmer Davis is one man that can be respected by all. Elmer said, "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." This nation was not founded on the idea of letting others decide what is best for us. We were created by questioning and rebelling, and we will continue this till our demise. To say that questioning our government is, "whiny MSN, CNN and other cable network democrats," is an absurd statement. It is every citizens duty to question their chosen leaders, because after all, that is what truly makes us free.
“Many textbooks don’t address the Native American cultures on the America’s for more than a few pages.”
Wow! Really? Mine sure did. I knew way more about the Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee, and American Indian assimilation than the Constitutional Convention or the signing of the Declaration of Independence. If you would have asked me to name one American Poet in middle school…I would have only been able to give you Mia Angelo. We covered MLK more than every American president combined. My point is we have come a long way from the Scopes Trial.
“Pressure from school administrators to a favorable view of antiquity and the status quo are all contributors to the problem.”
They do? Oh, that darn conservative teacher’s union and their overt patriotism and old-fashioned values.
"Americans could be persuaded to ignore the injustice of social class if the they thought the economic pie was getting bigger for all."
The pie is getting bigger for everyone. Between 1979 and 2004, the proportion of American households with inflation-adjusted incomes below $75,000 fell by 10.1 percentage points, with the largest drop coming in the number of households earning less than $35,000. The proportion of those earning more than $75,000 rose by the same amount, with most of the gain coming from an increase in the proportion of households earning more than $100,000 per year. …but let’s focus on education not economics.
America more than any other nation can give kids the attitude of “they can do whatever they want when they get older.” This, of course, isn’t always true, but we have been given the nickname “Land of Opportunity” for a reason. We may be “below all of scandanavia, western europe, and parts of asia,” in education, but we still are more economically successful and productive. This is because America is still free enough to value individualism, creativity, and innovation. That’s how Gary Dahl became a millionaire from selling a pet fucking rock. Balls, I love this country!
I enjoy the discussion and could go on and on…but I think Haas would kick me off this blog for making it too political.
Lets not get political, because one thing I've learned about arguing politics is, in the end, neither person changes their stance, and everyone leaves pissed off.
I have no problem with this book. As haas said, much of loewens points in the book are backed by very reliable sources. It's not like a Micheal Moore-extremely bias, filled with half-truths-type book.
I never recalled learning how Woodrow Wilson was an openly white supremicist, in fact, I've never heard anything bad about the guy before. I also don't recall reading about Columbus' massacres of natives, or about George Washington's ownership of slaves. The only thing we were ever taught in public schools was the worst thing GW ever did was cut down his father's apple tree.
I love this country, and I realize that there are millions of people in dirt poor third world countries that would give anything to live here. So I am very grateful for this wonderful opportunity. But I think it is very important to learn about the nation's previous flaws as well as it's shining moments.
Flame me if you want, but I really don't see a problem with this book.
just like most books, there are lots of points that may go over the top, as soup pointed out, but you can still take a message from it.
lets not look at it as politics for one second.
this guy is a historian. i'd be willing to wager that any college professor does not like the way their subject is taught in high school. especially historians, because history is taught very differently in college vs high school
so lets leave it at this: HISTORY CLASS COULD BE TAUGHT IN A MORE ENGAGING AND EDUCATIONAL WAY.
I think your right haasertime, most classes could be taught more engagingly and with more student envolvement. As for the comment about the commentators on cable news networks, I would just like for once, just once, to turn on my tv and hear one of them talking about something possitive. Maybe Im alone here but there are plenty of things right going on in this country and it would be nice to hear about some of those things once in a while. If they arent discusing the "end of the world as we know it" they are reporting on the current status of Paris Hilton. Thats just not balanced and unbiased news coverage to me.
i agree... they should give Paris Hilton the death penalty...i'm sick of hearing that stupid name
I want to start off by saying that I have not read this book. Saying that, I have always had a real problem with the way history was taught at NHS. Sitting quietly for 50 minutes reading out of my textbook while Mr. Marguleus walked around and tapped people on the back of the head with a pencil when they fell asleep wasn't my idea of an ideal learning environment. HS does a good job of teaching objective information, facts and dates. Things that teachers with 150 students can easily grade. They don't have time to go into subjective things that can't be answered on a multiple choice test. I wish there was one thing you could pin it on, But, its a bigger issue than class size, its bigger than lack of funds or resource even. It has to do with students not wanting to learn and teachers not wanting to teach. Its one of those "which came first, the chicken or the egg" type situations. Did bad teachers turn kids off learning or did bad students turn teachers off. Or maybe the administration had something to do with it?
Some of you might be thinking, "Tony, what about so and so, he/she was a great teacher." And to that all I can say is Tom McKown. For every truely great teacher there are 10 bad ones, who have tenure and are just milking it out until they can retire. Any union thats able to keep that guys job has to much power and obviously didn't keep their students best interests in mind. I'm not saying teaching is easy, or that they shouldn't get burnt out. They are human and I know its a very difficult profession. I always wanted to do it, but I realized it was for the wrong reasons (just to coach wrestling) and I also realized that I shouldn't get into it wihtout being completely dedicated to being one of the great ones. So, I no longer plan on pursuing it. I think everyone who even remotely considers teaching should read "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt. He tells about his 35 years in the NYC public school system. It opened my eyes to the world behind the scenes, how administrations will stomp out young teachers ideas because "thats just not how its done here." With attitudes like that its no wonder there is bias in textbooks. They still call the civil war the war of northern aggression in Alabama for gods sake! Maybe not in school anymore but still in conversation, and do you know what great about America?
They can. If you aren't hurting anyone, you can say or do whatever the fuck you want. It is a beautiful thing, want to organize a good ol' fasioned "sit in?" go ahead, how about chaining yourself to a public landmark? no problem here, want to burn the flag or not stand for the national anthem? then don't, do I agree with your actions? No, but I'll stand between you and an angry mob to the death. And if a law was passed that said you couldn't I would march right next to you to washington because we were guaranteed our right to free expression, no exceptions.
I dare anyone to tell me I don't love America, but we have many problems. It is the duty of all citizens to bitch and complain. If people wouldn never have protested, I would be in Vietnam, not Vietnam Junior. I will continue to answer the call of our great nation as long as I am able, not for glory or accolades. But because I beleive in the impression that our founding fathers made in ink and blood during the revolution, I beleive in what our grandparents fought for in Europe and Japan against the Axis, I beleive in what blacks finally accomplished in the '60's, it took 100 years and the killing of their leadership, but by not sitting idlely by they made change.
America is still the best country in the world, becuase no matter what problems we have. We, as a society always have an oppertunity to make change.
word, tony.
that should just about wrap it up.
thanks for everyones comments!
Well, I am sure your anecdotal evidence of how you remember you history class is convincing. I am looking at three current history text books and one from our days in middle/high school (not as current). In all four of the texts the amount on the "signing of the Declaration of Independence" is one chapter, while the natives before and during and after colonial America was one chapter itself (and all 4 are shorter chapters). But the real funny part is the trail of tears…. One paragraph. That paragraph must have been really well written.
And you ONE obscure statistic about how the pie is getting bigger for everyone goes against all the research on the widening of the social classes and the disappearance of the middle class.
But either way, we won't agree and Haas I am sure is regretting he ever reviewed such a, I guess, controversial book. If you want to discuss this more, and I am sure it would be enlightening for both of us, shoot me an email… or we could drop it and go back to talking about how Haas feels uncomfortable at bars.
p.s. who is soup?
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