The other day a parent came up to me at the Reference desk at a public library where I occasionally work and asked me where she could find an older history textbook that had “just the real facts” and not any of this asking students about their feelings about what happened in history, or that politically correct stuff that her daughter’s school textbook has. While I tried to determine more specifically what her needs were (like a good librarian does), I also mentioned that, while dates and locations and names are often factual, all of history is in some way biased, as it is seen and written about through the lenses of different people with different values and perspectives. She agreed, but still insisted on a history book with “just the facts.” Monday was Columbus Day, and this year, as in generations before, elementary schools all across the United States taught another group of children the FACT that, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and discovered America, etc. It is a fact that Columbus sailed to North America in 1492 and encountered Native peoples, but there’s a whole lot that seems to get left out about what happened after that. Like mass murder and the transatlantic slave trade.
These two events led me to thinking about three things as a humane educator. First, it’s ever-more urgent that we provide people with a more complete picture of issues to help them make the most humane choices possible. More people are starting to mark Columbus Day as “Indigenous People’s Day” or as “Genocide Day,” to acknowledge the slavery and genocide of Native people that occurred after Chris set foot on the “new world.” How many children would still want to celebrate the “discovery of America” if they were more informed?
Second, for those things that are facts, we need to be sure to know the facts and to get them right. I’ve lost count of the number of times in my earlier years that, when talking with someone about the “evils” of something or other, when the person started to ask in-depth questions, I realized I didn’t know as much about the issue as I thought. It was enough for me to learn the basics about an issue -- the connection between chocolate and slavery, the cruelty of factory farming, the enormous impact of consumer behavior – to inspire me to change my habits. I didn’t need to know the “gory details.” Some people do, so it’s important that we know them and know them well. It’s also essential that the facts we share are accurate. Stretch the truth, mislead, or misremember – even just a little – and our credibility evaporates forever.
It’s also important to get clear on what’s indeed a fact and what’s a belief or perspective. As activist Laura Moretti said, “That’s the nice thing about beliefs. Just because you’ve put your faith in them doesn’t make them true.” The things that happen to factory farmed animals are facts; the amount of pollution that’s released into our air and water and food and earth is a factual amount (whatever amount that is); that children, men and women are being forced into slavery all over the world is a fact; that more teenage girls are signing up for breast enhancements is a fact. That all those things are WRONG is a belief.
As gut-wrenchingly difficult as it can be, it’s important that we know our facts, get them right, share our own beliefs, and not try to tell people how they must live. We can inform and empower people so that they can make choices that are best for their lives…though it may not always be the choice we wish they would make.
~ Marsha, Web Content & Community Manager
Image courtesy of: dbking.
P.S. It wasn’t until I was a student with IHE that I really learned details about the different “versions” of history. If you’re interested in exploring more for your own education, or want to pursue sharing with students about different perspectives in history, you might find these sample resources useful:
The Columbus Story:
Rethinking Schools has created a book for educators called Rethinking Columbus that deals with this subject. It offers ”resources for teaching about the impact of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas” and includes ideas for kindergarten through college.
In her book Black Ants & Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades, Mary Cowhey offers a description of how she has explored with her second graders the issue of Columbus’s encounters with Native peoples.
History Reenvisioned:
Three books (among many) that explore different perspectives in American history from those most kids and adults are taught are: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen (2007 ed.), A People’s History of the United States: From 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn (2005 ed.), and Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis (2004 ed.).
The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen (2004 ed.) examines many of the atrocities that have made up our culture, using several historical events as a springboard.
What’s it like to try to survive in a refugee camp? In Darfur is Dying players take on the role of a Darfurian who tries to complete a variety of tasks in order to help his/her community survive, including foraging for water, obtaining food, building shelter and staying healthy. If a player can do all this and survive -- surviving attack, escaping capture, etc. – then s/he's “won.” Mousing over question marks scattered throughout the camp provides data about what life is like in a refugee camp. The game offers additional information about the plight of Darfurians in Sudan and suggests ways to help.
Ayiti: The Cost of Life explores the question: “What is it like to live in poverty, struggling every day to stay healthy, keep out of debt, and get educated?” In this complex role-playing game, Players are in charge of determining what happens to a family of 5 in Ayiti. They must try to keep everyone healthy, while helping them get as much education as possible and make enough money to survive and thrive. The player has 4 years (divided into 16 seasons) to try to succeed, and has to choose a “strategy” at the beginning: health, education, happiness or money. Who will work, rest, go to school, volunteer, get health care? How will it be paid for? Each choice has a consequence (some positive, some negative). The game is somewhat complicated, with a variety of choices and actions necessary for each season. There are a couple of lesson plans that accompany the game, to help participants process their experience and/or think critically about the issues.
