James Loewen\u2019s book entitled \u2018Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong\u2019 speaks of criticism against twelve American history textbooks that mislead readers by representing facts and viewpoints that are actually far from truth.
\nThere is often a hitch of bias in the way history is being presented nowadays, what Loewen (2008) defined as heroification or \u201ca degenerative process that makes people over into heroes\u2026 turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest\u201d (p.19). From the Pilgrims up the occurrence of the Vietnam War, this Eurocentric method of formulating the teaching of history bears thoughts and issues, which appear to be very irrelevant to the views of everyday lives.
\nMain Body<\/p>\n
Loewen (2008) has inserted in his book the words of W.E.B. Du Bois when he said:
\n\u201cOne is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over\u2026 The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history\u2026 paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth\u201d (p.18). \u00a0In Loewen\u2019s book, it is emphasized how history textbooks, which are used today in education, proclaim misleading evidences and details that abuse \u2018heroification\u2019 and put the angle away from truth.
\nIt emphasizes too much on positive qualities that give an overly-emphasized meaning that reflect significant lessons, while distorting the negative characteristics of history and its heroes.\u00a0 By this, students usually find significant lessons in them, such as, for example, Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller.\u00a0 As Loewen (2008) stated, Wilson was usually pictured as an important president, while Keller was an inspiration to the blind and deaf students of this century (pp.19-20).
\nHowever, as Loewen (2008) stated, \u201cHeroification so distorts the lives of Keller and Wilson (and many others) that we cannot think straight about them\u201d (p.20).\u00a0 It takes away the truth behind real people and events by presenting them in a way that leads to a specific objective and design.\u00a0 It fabricates people\u2019s minds after a certain framework that would theoretically lead to a basic viewpoint, picture, or assumption.
\nQuestions that are raised in Loewen\u2019s book consist of the following: (1) How true and accurate are the details that are being presented in educational textbooks in the field of history?\u00a0 (2) How much morality do the authors, publishers, adoption committees, and teachers nowadays possess in presenting facts and issues that should reflect fair, non-bias, and factual details of history?\u00a0 (3) What are the exact causes why most elementary and secondary students find the lectures of history bland, boring, and almost senseless?\u00a0 (4)
\nHow can the process of heroification lead to more positive, truthful, fair, yet fruitful results?\u00a0 Lastly, (5) what can authors, publishers, and teachers do to highlight the truth behind Loewen\u2019s statement that history is an ongoing process that is influenced by specific events, environments, and characteristics of the past. \u00a0My general perception after reading the author\u2019s viewpoints or perspectives is that, Loewen (2008) has failed to analyze the other end of the pole, which reflects that, prior to a youth\u2019s desire to be one of the great men of his time, there first has to be the episode of mental and psychological stimulation and inspiration, before one can project ( help with nursing paper writing from experts with MSN & DNP degrees) positive results and actions that make history a lot more worthwhile.
\nConclusion
\nI feel that this book of Loewen (2008) is the very thing needed to emphasize the truth behind the statement that history is an ongoing process that is being lived by on the account of one\u2019s everyday life.\u00a0 The reading has helped me to formulate my own ideas regarding education, as it reflected the issues of accuracy, morality, and the different tactics used in trying to come up with a structure that makes heroes appear like what the readers would expect them to appear: all faultless, perfect, and absolute. \u00a0It is, however, far from the truth.
\nReference
\nLoewen, J.W. (2008). Lies my teacher told me: everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York, NY: New Press.
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