Teaching the Same Old Line

AMERICANS tend to not know their own history very well, partly because they haven't been told the truth about it. Most american history book writers and teachers prefer making american history look positive, and leaving out the negative. This is perfectly normal and understandable human behavior. It happens in all countries. In recent years there has been a trend to try to be a bit more honest, telling the same positive story, but including, truthfully, the negative. This is why conservatives are on the warpath, screaming that american education has been kidnapped by a vicious gang of liberals. They want to go back to the old style. That might mean a return to glossing over slavery and genocide. It doubtless means continuing to ingore the questionable morality of people like Thomas Jefferson, which we have always done, and continue to do to this day. I was taught, twenty years after the atomic bombs were dropped on japan, that the united states had no real choice but to drop the bombs. This nonsense is apparently still pretty much the standard line in junior high and high school history books in america. I asked a teacher friend of mine if he teaches american history hagiography, (dishonestly positive history), or if he teaches the truth. Not really wanting to answer the question or accept any responsibility , he told me "I teach by the book." This friend of mine is one of the gang of vicious liberals who have taken over american education, but even he is afraid to teach the truth, because it might get him fired. We have liberal teachers afraid to teach the truth, still teaching the same old company line of lies, and the conservatives act as if the sky has fallen. Really, they've nothing to worry about. It is remarkable how fiercely an entire culture can resist the truth, just like we all can and do, as individuals. Too much truth is harmful. A little fantasy is healthy. But if we tell too many lies about our own past, and our country's past, we end we end up believing that we are descended from gods, or aliens, and all manner of doubtful beliefs. The truth may not be as flattering, but in the long run, it is the best method to live harmoniously with the world as it really is.