British Teachers Censoring History
London's Daily Mail reports that some British teachers are avoiding teaching about the Holocaust in order to avoid giving offense to Muslim Holocaust deniers.
Some teachers are also avoiding covering the Crusades in history classes.
History teacher Betsy Newmark writes: "The inmates really have taken over the asylum if this is the case. .. If we can no longer teach history than we must truly give up on hoping to educate the next generation to face tough questions and issues. We will be one step closer to the type of future envisioned by George Orwell."
posted by Laura @ 1:59 PM
4 Comments:
While very troubling of course, it really shouldn't be a surprise. This sort of seeping into the European culture has been happening for some time, and yet a blind eye or even worse, an embrace of it has taken place. Unfortunately, political correctness is exacting a horrible price and you have to wonder why the outcry of England's citizenry can't be heard....once such a noble country.
Not teaching the Crusades in a British history class for fear of offending Muslims is a bit like not teaching about slavery in a U.S. history class for fear of offending blacks. Both were very important parts of their countries' histories. Let's face it, if King Richard hadn't been at the Crusades, the Magna Carta might not have come around to rein in the monarchy under Prince John. England devoted a lot of time and effort to the Crusades, and overlooking a part of history because it may be unpleasent completely defeats the point of studying history in the first place.
The one thing that many do not realize is that the very same thing is occuring in our own country. In my area, high school US history is begun after Reconstruction. The Civil War, Colonial US History, The Revolution, The Constitution, and even the Indian Wars (which continued well after the Civil War) are not taught. In fact, political history is de-emphasized and people, unless they are a minority, are not singled out.
The main narrative is America as a Imperial force in the world and civil rights issues.
This and the politics of public education are why I do not teach at the high school level. When the high schoolers get to college they have an incredibly difficult time in history classes, especially when it comes to pre-1865. The funny thing is all of them can tell me who Bill Clinton is, a majority know Martin Luther King Jr., less than half have heard of George Washington Carver, and nobody has even heard of Frederick Douglass or Benjamin Banneker. Don't even get me started on the "dead white guys". We really need to be worried about the state of education in our own schools. We can still fight the good fight here, while there is still a modicum of local influence and control. Better yet, we can make sure that we do some educating at home. That's the last thing they expect us to do.
You've got it, j.c.loophole, just keep piling on the reasons to homeschool!
Post a Comment
<< Home