Give Me More than a Winner's Perspective

How do we teach history to a generation who is losing trust in history? How do we teach history to a generation who does not see the value in history? How do we teach history to a generation that knows the education system does not share the whole truth of history?

I consider myself a lifelong learner and whenever I had questions about something or wanted to learn more, I would read all the books, watch all the videos, and basically fall deep down the rabbit hole until I got my answers and then some.

I learned, very quickly and a little too late, that my education was lacking in what mattered and not covering the big picture.

Now, due to the pandemic, I find myself Guest Educating. (I don’t know why we felt the need to come up with a politically correct term for a substitute when there are other issues at hand, but I am basically a full-time substitute.) I am in a district that's average house cost is probably over $400,000 and the kids have no idea the world outside their backyard. The students have no idea that they are almost two years ahead on reading than the average school district. They have all the safety precautions brought on by Sandy Hook, but never know the anxiety of walking into a school with four officers, metal detectors, and weekly drug and weapon searches.

As I “guest educate” for a Gifted/Talented class, I hear them complain about one of their classes. It was a history class - Texas History to be exact. In my opinion, History should be just as important as English and Math, but the school system across the state, I cannot speak for the whole US, does not put the same value in Social Studies and Science as it does in English and Math.

This young student, with her apple watch, newest iPhone generation, and hundred dollar tennis shoes is complaining about learning about The Alamo. “Why is the Alamo even important? Like how is this going to help me in life?”

“It’s not The Alamo, per say, but the implications of it,” I respond.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, which state is the best state?” I ask.

The class erupts in almost a chant of “Texas!”

“Why is Texas the best?”

I got mixed responses that basically fell into “Because it’s Texas.”

“Texas is 34th in education out of 50 states,” I stated. “Does that make us the best?”

The students were silent.

“Our incarceration rate is higher than the national average, as well as violent crime, and our healthcare is 37th in the nation. So why is Texas the best state?”

The class was silent again.

“It’s because of the significance and implications of The Alamo, and the Texas Revolution, that instill our pride in Texas, despite the facts.”

“But why do I need to know the exact dates?” The student whined.

“For the test you do, but in the real world knowing the general time period is a good thing. You don’t want to say Texas fought for its freedom in the 1930s, that’d be awkward.” The kids groaned. “The Alamo is something of pride for Texans. It has to do with our war against the Mexican Army as we fought to become a recognized Republic. Although there are a lot of myths and legends behind it now, The Alamo’s history is something that gives Texans’ their pride. We didn’t surrender. We fought until the end, because we valued our land and freedom more than our lives.”

Of course none of this stuck with most of the kids as they quickly turned to discuss their LOLBeans stats and weekend pandemic plans, but a few came up and talked to me. One of the students said they loved history and told me he wished his teachers had explained the relevance like I did. One kid mentioned that my statistics bothered him, and I laughed silently as I had found those out earlier that week after watching a comedian say that Texas was 49th in education and I had to double check, which led me down the rabbit hole of statistics concerning my “great” state of Texas.

Until we start teaching students how to apply history to their knowledge of the world, we won’t have an appreciation for history. The idea of facts are becoming subjective in this world and as more information is being published on the flaws of history being taught, soon history will be seen as subjective.

I didn’t learn about why the south wanted to keep slavery until my sophomore (college) sociology class.

I should have learned about the economic implications of the Civil War in middle school.

I didn’t learn about the culture of the people my forefathers dissipated until I started following notoriouscree (James Jones) on insta.

I should have read a first hand account of Native American culture in high school.

I didn’t learn about Christopher Columbus’s hand in the slave trade until I read Lies My Teacher Told Me.

I should not have been made to idolize Columbus in elementary school.

The education of history is failing our youth. We are learning that history is written by the winners. Let us hear from the people history affected negatively not just an account from what the winners saw. Start telling the facts that build on one another. The education of History isn’t a monopoly game. We need to stop spending years educating youths just the winner’s view point of history, only for them to be briefly educated by a college class or TikTok.

Give us the implications of the whole picture, not just a perspective.

Source for statistics

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/texas

Book

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong - Dr. James W. Loewen (Sociologist)

Instagram/TikTok

@notoriouscree