This is the reason I stopped pursuing a high school teaching degree in history. Though I lean toward the conservative viewpoint of the importance in teaching about those important figures and events that shaped our history, I also agree with the counterargument of teaching an all-encompassing history that does not gloss over key but neglected aspects. While in education school, one professor told me, knowing I had an interest in World War Two, that I might encounter a school district where I would not be allowed to teach about the Holocaust. I was flabbergasted by the revelation, unable to believe that such a key component to the subject could be left out of the curriculum. Yet, I eventually came to understand: when the teaching, and subsequent re-writing, of history becomes arbitrary – chosen by "experts" with only certain, sanitized points taught – it is nothing more than an agenda. Plain and simple. It happened before in the fight over social studies curriculum, it is happening now and it will happen again.
"Who Writes Your Kids’ Textbooks?," by Shannon Bream
©2010 Steve Sagarra
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