Comments on: My history class

By: mykgerard

mykgerard — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:17:00 +0000

All of my history professors in college seemed intent on destroying every last speck of faith in all of their students as they deemed it the starting point of war, hatred, intolerance and persecution.

I literally saw faith in God visually seep out of the faces of many catholic students in one of my classes.

Your approach would be a breath of fresh air.

By: Negin

Negin — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:47:54 +0000

The American Civil War (also known as the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War for Southern Independence, and – believe it or not – the War of Northern Aggression) took place between 1861 and 1865. I double checked with wikipedia.

Molly, I still think you got the better end of the deal. I remember – and Van Jones mentioned this feeling in his talk which I liveblogged a while back – feeling burned once I learned the whole scope of our history, disillusioned.
Yet I know I can’t extricate myself from any of it. How could my people have done this to my people? I have to spend my life setting it straight.

The richness of this past of ours – the wide range of perspectives, demonstrated in just the names for the Civil War – the many lessons to learn – call us to develop a mature kind of love, one that exists in spite of disappointment, that stares into the whole truth then gears up to contribute to improve conditions. As a service, as a sacrifice.

I want students to develop resolve in the face of injustice, to grow more focused in the crucible of truth. To know that they are irrevocably engaged, and have been since drawing their first breath.

Well, anyway, thanks for the comments! I love you guys!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:25:51 +0000

Love this idea. I absolutely loved history throughout elementary, middle and high school, and I still do. Funny, but I’ve never been particularly bothered by the way its been taught, the focus on conflict and royal succession. Maybe I’m a realist at heart?

The idea of focusing on justice/injustice is fascinating to me. To think of delving into and examining mankind’s ever-changing relationship with and manifestation of Justice is truly exciting. That’s what really matters anyway, right? The ability of humankind to treat one another with justice?

The idea of viewing history through a lens of justice is exciting, because it means that students exposed to such a method would undoubtedly become more conscious of justice/injustice dynamics in their own world, in their own societies, in their own communities. Mmmm

I like this a lot.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:57:00 +0000

Teach it! Teach it! Do it!
fantastic idea. Justice/injustice tally, agency, recognition of the import of religion in the unfoldment of human society… it got me nice and excited.

on the civil war, Ryan and I watched Ken Burns’ doc. recently (for the second time for him,) and we have been discussing how pivotal the civil war was in making America what it is. Not just about slavery and freedom, or north vs. south, etc. – but about it’s role in cementing the states into an actual union, with each formerly independent state giving way to a national unity. This, to me, makes the civil war very significant – and, if you are into knowing dates anyway, it’s dates seem like important ones to recognize as the sort of second birth of this country. While the declaration of independence was written before the Revelation of Baha’u'llah, the most spiritually and morally significant ideas within the declaration didn’t begin to bear fruit until the civil war – after the coming of Baha’u'llah.

By: Sholeh

Sholeh — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:30:45 +0000

Brilliant. I loved history classes, but was frustrated at the way it was taught. So I like this idea of justice vs. injustice. I think though, that there could be historical situations that might not be able to be so clearly delineated…

By: lev

lev — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:40:28 +0000

Dates of the Civil War? Meh. I got a pretty standard historical curriculum, and I don’t know the dates of the Civil War or who was president during the first World War either. So, y’know — don’t get too down or yourself.

I like the notion of engagement — asking the students to question for themselves whether something was just or injust. (Unjust?) That would be cool.

By: Molly

Molly — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:18:38 +0000

I love your idea. I attended a Quaker school for my entire k-12 life, and because pacifism is one of the cornerstones of Quakerism, we didn’t learn history from war to war. We learned about the culture and practice – and sometimes the injustices – of a particular time. Instead of studying the Civil War, we studied the Underground Railroad. We learned about Harriet Tubman and sang Negro spirituals. Instead of studying the Revolutionary War, we studied “Colonial America,” learning about how to churn butter and declare independence. When we did study World War II, we spent most of our time on the Holocaust and reading Farewell to Manzanar. Some of it was whitewashed – there was no talk of smallpox blankets or the Trail of Tears – but overall, I think it was a much richer way to learn history.

The downside is that I still don’t know anything about U.S. history as it is taught in most public schools, and I’m ignorant about a lot of facts that are considered common knowledge. Doesn’t have a big impact on my everyday life, but it still feels like a gap when I don’t know things like the dates of the Civil War, or who was president during the first World War.