I learned a lot of new information when we did the socratic circle in class. I enjoyed doing the circle idea because it really helped me see different views and ideas that I would not have thought of. My thought throughout the article that we read was how were they making all of these decisions to change the textbooks for specific reasons. But the thing that confuses me is that all of the people making these decisions have knowledge of history but they are not historians or scientists, so how do they know what should be taken out and inserted into the textbooks. I believe that a way to fix the situation for the textbooks is to allow the colleges help determine what is going to be in the books. This way it benefits everyone because then it would make an easier jump from high school into college and all of the high school classes would be learning the same curriculum. Instead of the AP classes learning the information that the colleges are learning but the regular history is learning something else. Another way I believe we could fix the situation is to actually let the historians determine what should be learned, because they do know what would be best for everyone to learn.
Another idea that pops up is how do we really know what is more important? How can we truly tell what happened throughout history because we were not actually there so how do we know if it is true or not? All of the information that we have learned for out whole lives might not even be true because what if whoever was writing told a lie to make it sound better or even give it completely different outcome. We could be learning lies and we do not even know it. This idea is how I am going to connect my ideas to 1984. In 1984 the people were being fed lies about what happened in the past because the government changed it so they were always right. They did this in order to make it that nothing would change and that they would have all time power forever. This could be what is happening now because we technically do not really know what had happened in the past because we were not there unless we had "time machines" obviously, but it is impossible to every know if our history is true or not. The people in the past might have just made up what happened to control our thoughts of what did happen now and we do not even know it. :)
I think it is funny the way you titled your blog because in the end, we are all going to die at one point or another!
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I think that you have some very valid points that are brought up and some ideas that had never occurred to me. For one, I think the idea of college professors helping out with creating a curriculum for high school students and younger is a very good idea because once everyone gets to college, everything changes and you are challenged to excel in a class where everyone's learning background differs. This, however, may be a positive thing as well. If everyone was taught the same thing with the same curriculum all across the United States, that would mean that more ideas will become universal and not as many people will challenge what is "right" and what is "wrong" in the classroom settings. Different curriculum backgrounds also may be beneficial to the community because it brings about ideas that may not be in place to begin with, which is what helps America to prosper the way it is now due to its innovation. I'm not, by any means, trying to bash what you are saying because I fully understand where you are coming from on each ideas, just providing food for thought.
I don't know if I'd like to die just yet, maybe we can discuss this first? :) I think that you made several valid points in your analysis of our Socratic Circle, although you might have contradicted yourself when you proposed a solution and then also asked, how can we really know? However, when I suggested my solution I think I did the same thing, as it is so difficult to come up with an idea that requires so much responsibility, morality, and all-knowing knowledge of the past! I think that making hish school curriculum smilar to that taught in colleges is a great idea. Not only will this help prepare students for their future responsibilities, but it will help our nation decide on what the hisorical truth really is. (Although, as I noted this is a daunting task that will require the cooperation of many historians, professors, and lots of time!) To be completely honest, I don't know for sure how we would go about finding what is "right" without letting our petty biases creep in, but I do feel strongly that we have to try. With the great minds of the present and future generations, democratic system of sharing persepctives on events could allow for a more factual rendition of history to dominate text. However, in the meantime, I think children should be urged (as w are in our class) to question what is taught. We could also just videotape everything for evidence! (Don't worry, I'm kidding).
ReplyDeleteHm, thanks for the death-threat title. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The scientists/historians know not whether "history" is fact or fiction for certain. So they should have no say in the context of our textbooks. Similarly, that is why the Bible has been the same since it was originally written. I believe it to be true; I'm a Christian. But I cannot PROVE it to be true, for I was not there. I just believe it because it is what I have faith in. It is all in our faith. We cannot be certain because we were not there. The best we have are written words from "those who lived it" and whatever evidence any archaeologists can dig up and share with the rest of us noobs. And the best we can do is go on believing what we believe is most true, with whatever "evidence" we have.
PS: "all time power forever?" Isn't "all time," "forever?" (:
Carl,
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you when you began to say all the people aren't even hitsorians, scientists dont really fall into play in the history books but i definately am catchin your drift. Why should someone who doesnt even major in history be preaching about what to teach the schooling programs? Lastly i liked the idea that maybe were all being fed lies, haha it's out there and kinda crazy but that's definately why I like it so much, because honestly who knows if what were being forced to learn is twisted? Who knows if it's truth? Maybe we'll never know because history didn't always have a way of keeping accurate records until the last few hundred years.
The fact that historians should be in charge of deciding is a really good point that I don't think I heard, or at least that the board is not made up of historians. I also like that the normal high school history classes should lean towards college courses and not just AP. This also wasn't pointed out, or I just don't remember it. Great tie to 1984, a little dramatic for my taste, but still great. The rhetorical questions were a nice touch as well. Oh, and way to end on such a happy note (I wish sarcasm could be heard through text).
ReplyDeleteCarl made great points about how people who changed the textbooks are not Historians or Scientist. How can they be allowed to take out certain things if they don’t know if the information is acolyte? Also, he makes a point about how students from the same school can learn from different curriculums. The AP students have their own standard to follow so, when they get to college they will be right on track. Kids in regular classes would not. I agree with this 100 %. It’s true that we can never really know what information is really important if we never experienced it by ourselves. To think that the history we are learning could not be true is very scary. Who really knows if things really happened the way it did. This will also happen if the state of Texas changes the curriculum and becomes the government of Oceania like on 1984.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you when you say that the people who are changing the text in books about history are not even historians which does not make sense because they really do not know what happened in the past. I also have to agree with you about the how the AP classes should be teaching the same as the regular classes and that the historians should choose what we learn. That is the best way to get the most accurate information about history because they know what happened back then. Situations like these can happen anywhere around the world but who knows what happens. I can see where you are coming from in way.
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