Marin Voice: Determining everyone’s role key in how, what history is taught
The controversy regarding how we deal with the legacy of slavery, prejudice against immigrants, anti-Semitism and treatment of Indigenous people, as well as pervasive racism and sexism, has critical implications for how we teach American history.
Historically, patriotism has been equated with nationalism and our greatness as a nation. Now there is greater impetus to teach the facts and conclusions based on the best historical research. Looking at the facts as uncovered by historical research creates tension with teaching interpretations of history that only shine a light on our greatness. This is a major challenge for American history teachers.
Curriculum is front and center in the attack against teaching many historical complexities and facts. A critical question is “who decides?” Apart from the state-mandated American history curriculum, it should be determined by historians and teachers whose academic background in history and knowledge of curriculum is critical.
This should be part of the screening process for hiring and these teachers should be the dominant voice in designing and implementing the curriculum. School boards should never micromanage curricula. Parents should have no voice in curriculum decisions. We should not have individuals or agencies without the knowledge base make decisions about school curricula any more than we would have people other than medical practitioners and researchers make decisions regarding medical practice.
Instruction, how the curriculum is taught, is a different matter. Student and parent voices, as well as those of administrators who oversee teaching performance, should come into play. If, for instance, an American history teacher imposes his or her own values and uses the classroom as a bully pulpit, that needs to be dealt with firmly.
Good history is the exploration of complex information and discovering the truths, and any effort by a teacher to teach only one perspective is unprofessional. I have liberal values, but I’d stop a history teacher who shares those values from preaching a version of history that overrides complex truths.
An example would be how Native American history is presented. The truth is that our nation was built on the land of Indigenous people. But glorification of Native Americans distorts the truth. There was great violence across Native American tribes. Idealization serves neither truth nor justice.
Similarly, while it is critical that teachers present the unvarnished truths about slavery and its legacy, including pervasive racism, they shouldn’t glorify all Black people. Idealization does not foster accurate teaching about our history.
Having said all of this, I recognize that some truths are unsettling, disillusioning, and, for some, threatening.
This quote in the book “How the Word is Passed: Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” by Clint Smith, is from Damaras Obi. She is a tour guide for an Underground Railroad tour in Manhattan who begins her tour with this statement:
“This is world history that has been completely whitewashed and wiped out of our education systems globally, because history is no longer taught. Or when it’s taught, it’s taught incorrectly. A lot of the information you hear today is going to make you feel very, very uncomfortable. That’s OK. … That’s what learning and development is as a human being, being uncomfortable. Some of the information may challenge your educational background, as well as your personal beliefs. That’s all right as well.”
She speaks a series of facts during the tour, not her opinion or political views, just facts.
So the correct path for American history teachers is quite clear. Whether we choose to follow that path is up to teachers, but also up to parents and school boards not politicizing this and attempting to interfere.
This is not about race theory. It’s about our best historians and teachers determining American history curriculum and teaching complexities and facts effectively, without bias.