Lies My Teacher Told Me

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen.

The book details the awful state of history education in American primary schools, focusing on history textbooks, which are mostly dogma and lies. Any historian knows they're lies, the writers may know they're lies, the teacher may know they're lies, but they teach them anyway, because it's more about reinforcing the national myths than teaching the state and practice of history.

Loewen has some interesting opinions on why this is. He rejects the theory that it's about "the man" trying to rewrite history - some of the best history education happens in elite private schools that can afford good, passionate teachers. Rather, he believes that teachers and textbook manufacturers censor themselves, in an effort to avoid controversy in the classroom. (Not for no reason, either. I imagine there might be a PTA meeting or two about the history teacher telling the kids that Columbus committed genocide, or that the majority of people living in the colonies opposed independence.)

There's an interesting aside that university history students who had no high school history whatsoever have a much easier time because they don't have to overcome all the indoctrination.

Lying, in my book, is a sin of commission - the telling of deliberate falsehoods (with intent to deceive). The examples given above are all sins of omission - the failure to teach things that the author (and the speaker above) think ought to be taught. In some cases, this may be deliberate; in others it may be legitimate editing of the curriculum. Even if you schooled the kids in history 24/7, there will still be vast reams of material that are not covered in adequate detail.

And much of the above certainly doesn't reflect my primary and secondary education; though I can't claim my schooling was typical (it was in a public school). The genocide perpetrated upon the aboriginal Americans by various European colonists - and later by the UnitedStates itself - was most certainly not glossed over.

While there is much to deplore about the state of education in the U.S., many claims of "indoctrination" seem to come from those who want their viewpoint to be indoctrinated into the kiddies instead - and bolster such arguments by claiming to have a monopoly on the truth.

I think you should read the book... you'll probably find it interesting. I wasn't clear enough in the examples I gave; it's not just that teachers don't teach certain things, it's that they also teach a demonstrably false version. Like the problem with primary school science education (see below), Loewen also talks about how history classes don't teach how historical research is actually done. He believes that if students were exposed to the raging controversies and competing evidence and interpretations, instead of getting "this is what happened, this is what it means", they'd be much more interested in history.

There's also the small lies, like the teacher who claimed that Coca-Cola did not quench thirst, despite being mostly water; or like the "experiments" which destroy all concept of scientific method.

All high school science education is a lie in some sense, because they are just teaching the "answers", but science is about formulating the questions. They don't teach anything about how science is actually done until university. I remember some show on TV showing kids guessing that wind was made by the trees waving back and forth. The show was like, ha ha, kids are dumb. But those kids were doing SCIENCE. They observed an effect and hypothesized a plausible cause. A real science education would help them create an experiment to test their theory, and when it was proven wrong, revise it.

I distinctly remember going from Junior Chemistry to Senior Chemistry and being told the stuff we learnt in Junior Chem was wrong and we are now going to teach you the real thing. I can't imagine what people were taught at a university level that opposed what they were 'told' in High School. Not to mention the whole complex numbers thing... " 'i' ...You mean there are numbers we can represent that don't exist? But I thought I could trust maths!"

Cue RichardFeynmans rant on physics in Brazil

http://www.exmormon.org/boards/honestboard/messages/783.html

Some high schools teach how to do science. Mine does, for instance. A recent second-year physics lab assignment read something like this:

: "You're trying to find an equation for the period of a pendulum. Think of any variables that might affect that value. Use dimensional analysis to hypothesize an equation for the period in terms of these other variables. Here's some string, weights, masking tape, protractors, measuring tape, and stopwatches. Devise an experiment to test your hypothesis using this equipment. Write up a detailed experimental procedure and then carry out the experiment to see if your equation agrees with reality. Identify and describe any possible sources of error."

I think this sort of thing depends on the quality of the teacher.

That I'm special.

You are special, and unique, just like everyone else!

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile." -- TylerDurden

"Everybody's special!" "Which is just another way of saying that noone is..." - The Incredibles