History....according to who?
Historians and teachers are at fault for not telling the entire story.
They tell the story from their perspective and are not willing to let
others give their perspective. Others like ethnic minorities (the Native
American) or women, etc. How many of you can remember in grade school
hearing the story of the first Thanksgiving and how Indians and Pilgrims
share their food and gave thanks together? Nobody tell the other side of
the story of how the Indians helped the Pilgrims from starving to death
and how the Pilgrims actually destroyed native population and culture.
History has also been written by men, totally leaving out the
contributions of women. History is also divided by class. Wealthy men
and women (usually not ethnic minorities) had no opportunity to write
because they didn't have time too and because their stories were not
deemed as "important" by others. Look at our archives. Whose stories are
there? Definitely not the working class, Native American and some
others. History, archives and museum still continue to be bias (with
some exceptions).
If teachers and historians would work to teach all perspectives, maybe
students would be willing to listen and learn about what really happened
and why things are the way they are.
Stephanie Joseph (White Mountain Apache)
Reference & Instruction Librarian
University of Iowa Libraries - Main Library
319-335-5427 Office Phone
520-548-1025 Cell Phone
____________________________________
If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Sergei Prokofyev. I was
born in the late 19th century and was a child prodigy, composing at a
very young age. I kept this talent up, earning myself quite a name and
fully exploiting the bragging rights. I was disliked by Stalin,
however, and I died the same day he did. My most famous work is
"Peter and the Wolf."
________________________________
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Sokolow, Daniel
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 9:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Teaching History
Allow me to disagree. I don't think teaching social, socialist, or
marxist history is the key to awakening historical interest. While
these are valid areas of history, it is often the method of teaching
that's at fault rather than the specific subject matter. You can teach
people all you want about Eugene Debs, but if you can't make it
interesting, no one will a) remember, or b) care enough to learn more on
their own.
Let me say that I'm not blaming this exclusively on the teachers, though
I think enough of them are at fault. The educational system does not
encourage in depth study, as I think someone earlier mentioned. Parents
do not seem to have a ton of interest either. Popular culture has very
little interest in history, and very little on education in general.
What's disturbing is that history can be interesting and exciting, if
taught properly.
And frankly, I disagree that people can get a good grasp of history
without great men, great deeds. If you choose to add the story of
regular people, regular deeds that's fine, but I fail to see how you can
truly grasp what happens without understanding the role of the big
players. You can certainly learn a lot from the experience of the
average Civil War soldier, but skipping the role of Abraham Lincoln,
R.E. Lee, and U.S. Grant is not my idea of teaching the history
properly.
Before I go completely Cassandra on everyone, I think for all it's "All
Nazis, All the Time" programming, the History Channel and some of the
Discovery Channel history programs are a wonderful boon to the study &
promotion of history. It may be that we as history professionals are in
a niche, but at least we have these outlets in the popular culture.
DS
______________________________________
Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
David Taylor Archives
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
155 Community Drive
Great Neck, NY 11021
mailto:[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Hempe, Andrew - HPL
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 10:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Early Friday Funny
This is an important question, and deserves discussion. It is no
accident
that the general level of historical knowledge in the US is extremely
poor.
When historical education consists of teaching a string of events that
have
no relation to the day-to-day reality of people's lives, people will
naturally consider history to be trivia that really doesn't need to be
bothered with.
How many people know why Labor Day is celebrated in the US, rather than
May
Day? If you know the answer to this, you've gone a long way toward
knowing
why the average American's level of historical knowledge is so low.
To quote Rosa Luxemburg, the famous German Marxist, "Historical
consciousness is an essential component of class consciousness." The
fact
is, a great deal of history has been deliberately suppressed. Who knows
about the uprising of 1877? Or the Seattle General Strike? Who has
heard
the names Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, or Walter Reuther? Until history
is
taught in a way that emphasizes class structure and relations, and that
the
contributions of ordinary people are important, rather than history as
something that is made by "great men", there will continue to be a lack
of
interest in the general public in historical matters.
_____________________________________________________________________
The information contained in this electronic e-mail transmission
and any attachments are intended only for the use of the individual
or entity to whom or to which it is addressed, and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this communication
is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible
for delivering this communication to the intended recipient, you
are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying
or disclosure of this communication and any attachment is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please
notify the sender immediately by telephone and electronic mail,
and delete the original communication and any attachment from any
computer, server or other electronic recording or storage device
or medium. Receipt by anyone other than the intended recipient is
not a waiver of any attorney-client, physician-patient or other
privilege. Thank you.
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of
participation, please refer to
http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>