Whose Stories are Told?
As I reflect on the module this week, I am left saddened by the lack of effort in our school systems to prioritize telling the stories of everyone in history. Although there has been a bias to white history for a long time, I do see a horizon of hope as more opportunities arise to educate students on every aspect of history. To answer this question of whose stories are told, I would say hardly many. If we can turn from a one-sided teaching strategy and run into the depths of Black history, Hispanic history, Indigenous history, Asian history, and other topics then we can watch as the consequences of improper teaching fade away into the background.
As the content in the module shows, the struggle against racial unfairness and injustice begins with education and awareness. And, for the vast majority of Americans, history education has to and most definitely begins in school and in our history classes. Unfortunately, the way American history is mostly taught encourages the need to be re-educated with truth later in life. This does not have to be the case. Students are greatly harmed, and marginalized, by single perspective “history.” It's easy to lose sight of the link between what children learn in history and the civic ideals and values those themes transmit, especially when they're often regarded as separate disciplines in K-12 classrooms How long until we leave K-12 schools with a profoundly altered view of America's genuinely complex history than what is taught to them by their teachers and even parents. We as future teachers cannot afford to overlook the need to completely modify the way we teach American history in order for racial fairness to become a reality.
Hi Avery! I really enjoyed reading your blog post and I completely agree with you! After reflecting on the material provided to us for this week it saddens me to know how there are only a few, selected stories told that do not tell the whole complete story. I believe all sides to every story should be taught in school to students so they are aware of the occurrences and can form their own opinions. I think students should be introduced to a diverse variety of historic figures and not just a selected couple. I do not think we should have to do our own research to find the whole history and not just parts of it like school textbooks do. As future teachers this is very eye opening to read and learn about what our school system is like and the changes that need to happen for future generations.
ReplyDeleteHey Avery! This was a very open and vulnerable post, and I applaud you for that! I can confidently say that I agree with everything you said; the truth does not have any sense of urgency!!! Your ending words that say "fairness becoming reality" almost left me with goosebumps! This is a reality that has been shoved in our face since we were born and history from all cultures has somehow gotten a glossy sugar coat covering it and its entirety. Your emphasis on how schools have gone with one single perspective, really makes you think about how notable that perspective is to us and why we cannot use our own personal perspective. Yes, I can understand why one might not want their child to be exposed to the hideous truth and the dynamics that go alone with it, but there is a drastic difference of not saying something that happened and being careful with how it gets taught to the children. This post had really solid information, great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Avery!
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in elementary I didn't learn any of the real history of the U.S. and Im not sure if that is because they don't want young children to be exposed to such cruel truth or if it's because they want us to grow up thinking that the U.S. is the greatest country in the world. I didn't learn about the motives and the reality of what they did in order to colonize America until I was in like 8th grade. I agree with you that we are getting closer and closer to being able to teach all sides of U.S. history like the Native American, African America, Hispanic, etc. There still might be a few years to go before we see any big changes to the curriculum.
Hey Avery! I first wanted to say that I really liked the way in which you talked about this topic.Specially how you said that hardly anyone story is being told.After reading your blog i have to say that I agree with what you said that what we were taught in history class is not completely the true story of past events. I personally feel like it is important that students start receiving the whole truth about stories and not just the one side persepective like you said. At least for me it would all makes more sense of how things are set up now if we had been taught every piece of ceratin events in the past or at least the truth. At the end of the day it all connects with the present. But then again, things might be done this way and kept one side so that one doesnt take sides over things that have already happened. Overall I really enjoyed your blog it was all well explained and organaized.
ReplyDeleteAvery, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that the whole story should be taught, even if it is not always nice or pretty. There is always a way to teach something, even if it is controversial. I think being re-educated with the truth later in life is more harmful to students than just learning it the right way, the first time, even if it is hard. It's not just harmful to their ideas and thoughts, but their identity and trust with educational institutions. As the TikTok teacher pointed out the marginalized ethnic groups that are not fairly represented or taught in history, I looked back on my own schooling and realized how obvious it was, but I was sad that I never realized it until he pointed it out. As future teachers, we can change this, even if only a little at a time!
ReplyDeleteHi Avery!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and that the whole aspect of what happened in history needs to be taught. We can not tip toe around the facts that only certain parts of history are being taught to students in the classroom. As educators we are taught to teach the facts to our students so why are we not sharing the whole truth and all the facts when it comes down to the history of America. Single perspective history is an issue that needs to be stopped so that the students can learn about what is really happening as well as what really happened in the past. It is important to also learn more about the people that were there and not just the white man that played a role in the story. As a future educator it is very disheartening to know this and even try to understand that the year is 2022 and this is still an issue. It is our job as educators to help these students learn and understand what is happening.