On the Thinker

A lot of my friends have been watching the History Channel's new critically-acclaimed series, America: The Story of Us. The documentary series covers the first successful Pilgrim establishment at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 up until the present day. Using state-of-the-art special effects and a number of celebrity guests to help narrate, the creators of the series seem to have achieved their goal of reaching a more diverse populace beyond your average history nerd. Still, there is something uncomfortable, almost pathetic about these episodes. I mean, what do Diddy, Sheryl Crow, and Michael Strahan really know about specific historical events or people? Just what exactly these celebrities and politicians contribute to the conversation seems ambiguous at best. Moreover, the coverage of important historical events is full of cliches, generalities, and sometimes useless fun facts. Granted, some of the CGI is pretty impressive and who doesn't like seeing a portrayal of New Bedford on television in a positive light? But despite my rambling, this post is not meant to be a critique of one attempt at retelling the American story, it (and many to follow) is meant to explain how much your typical textbook treatment (which we get from this series) leaves out, why it is left out, and how those omissions from the history are so damaging and deceitful to generations of Americans who learn our history in classrooms across this country.

Not Your Typical Textbook Treatment:

Anyone who took AP US History at New Bedford High School in the past few years should instantly be reminded of the way in which they were taught American history. We asked the difficult questions. We filled in gaps in the broader historical narrative by uncovering often-invisible ties. We read works by Howard Zinn and Studs Terkel that give voice to minority groups in America. We assumed the roles of seemingly-minor historical figures and told their stories through creative writing and in role-play scenarios. We analyzed essential questions and grappled with ethics problems all while using the most current social media outlets to further our discussions. In short, we ripped the textbook to shreds and reconstructed it piece by piece.

At Boston University, this kind of unconventional approach to teaching American history is the norm. Most of BU's professors (including the recently-deceased Howard Zinn) are among the most distinguished in the field and continually prove that we still have much to learn about American history. A slew of young professors are demonstrating their historian's craft by reexaming primary sources past and present, uncovering new material to challenge a number of supposed truisms, and by evaluating alternative global futures. For now, let me just quickly go over some of the methodology involved in one of my courses entitled, "Americans in the World, United States History in a Transnational Perspective." In future posts I'll explore some of the more interesting lectures and discussions we had as a class.

This course in particular serves as a paradigm of how I think our youth should be taught American history. Certainly we reviewed the basic dates, people, and events. But at this level, these are really of minor concern. Our study of American history was a kind of recovery process in which we uncovered hidden ties, forgotten affinities, and the connections between American people and other people and cultures around the world. We took common textbook histories and put them up against a transnational framework to get a more accurate and complete sense of ourselves. We reviewed letters, diaries, journals, film, and novels to find that the world beyond the U.S. has appeared in a variety of new ways for Americans as something critical to our sense of self and our understanding of our own culture. We looked at how the world has appeared variously as a place of suffering in need of alleviation (in works by Emma Goldman), a place of complicated and critical cutural interactions (in works by Henry James), a sphere of noble political action (in Casablanca), and now in the early 21st century as a place of opportunity and travel and also an environment of unchecked danger (in Syriana). Most importantly, our professor greatly enhanced our understanding of and appreciation for American history while maintaining our continued interest in the subject.

Why the Watered-Down Version of American History?

I think there are a number of reasons why many teachers, textbooks, and documentaries about the United States simply recite important dates and facts while only skimming the surface of analysis. Many of them have to do with the quality of the materials available, the socio-economic status of the students and the community, the dedication of the teachers and administration, general time constraints, and in some cases television ratings. But I also think that politics, religion, and ideology play a huge role in covering up some of the more ugly episodes in our history. For example, some states in the South and the Midwest teach a fundamentally different curriculum than you will find in the Northeast. I'm not just talking about teaching evolution vs. creationism. Some textbooks are more hostile toward immigrants or spend less time covering slavery. Generally in religious schools, America is portrayed as being founded upon Judeo-Christian values, without considering other influences equally. Many times conservative textbooks and districts will champion certain terms like "American Exceptionalism" and omit certain facts that portray America in a negative light such as the fact that many Founding Fathers owned slaves (Sally Hemings ring a bell?). Most often, high school students get a watered-down treatment of events such as Indian removal, overseas expansionism and interventions, the dropping of the atomic bombs, cultural imperialism, segregation, and discrimination. Too much time is spent glorifying America as a beacon of hope and prosperity. While I believe these depictions are true, we must acknowledge that we are less-than-perfect as a nation and a union and making continual moral progress.

Admittedly, there are violators on the other side of the aisle as well. At times, some discussions I had in classes at BU, a very liberal university, seemed almost anti-American and some professors make no attempts to hide their liberal bias. Many of them have great ideas that might work in a theoretical world (like legalizing drugs), but most likely would not work practically (though one could say that these ideas are essential for human progress). My point is, I have deeply religious friends and friends who are atheists and both are sometimes at fault for choosing ignorance or complacency. Also, I need to point out that many other nations teach their youth versions of their history that hide horrors of the past (think of Holocaust deniers). But I think we can foster a climate of patriotism in this country without having to water-down the stories of Chief Joseph or Rodney King.

A Final Thought:

I could argue that in the last decade, teaching America's youth a truthful, complete account of American history from a national and a transnational perspective has never been more important. We are facing an almost-unprecedented economic depression and dismal job market, the cost of higher education has never been higher or more exclusive, and social media has exploded to the point where some young teens aren't developing real social skills. I think a first-rate education, with special attention to our own history, is the most important gift anyone can receive because among many other things, it helps us discover who we are as a people and where we are going as a nation.

I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to get a liberal arts education from an expensive university. The methods I described above are certainly not new and are things that most high school teachers could implement into their curriculum with relative ease, like the teacher I had did. True, there will likely always be a large percentage of the population who won't get this kind of history lesson, won't have access to it, or won't care about it. There are plenty of people in this country who are satisfied with stereotypes, (sometimes) ignorant religious doctrine, or a blindly-patriotic sense of American history that portrays us as the constant victim (to Indian aggression, to interracial marriage, to affirmative action and immigration, etc.). Even more are content with exclusively watching mindless reality TV and biased documentary series. But in this time of uncertainty for our future, I think we owe it to our youth to broaden their understanding of American history.

Much of what I have said about history can be compared to the practice of mapmaking. Both are imaginative enterprises. How we want to define America depends on how we frame the history of it. What we emphasize, what we bring up, is going to determine how our nation looks. We can tell our history as one of exceptionalism, as one of superiority, and put the U.S. at the center of our imaginations. Or we can try to decentralize it. I think it is better to throw ourselves off balance just enough to make us rethink the assumptions we take for granted. Let the politicians and preachers preach about exceptionalism and America's moral example. Let the pundits give us their opinions (but watch both sides). Let the administrators ensure that they play our national anthem each day before public school begins and that they remind us to honor our military servicemen and women (which we should). But let's not let our youth learn American history from one perspective, no matter which ideology or religion might subscribe to it. In teaching American history, we need to acknowledge stereotypes we have of others and consider if they drive our foreign policy. We need to understand that American culture and society has been made and shaped at the edges of the nation not just at the center. Our nation is a process that hinges on wired contexts and has changed over time. Let's encourage more of our youth to travel as part of their education. Travel helps us see what we take for granted, it helps us understand how others percieve us. Seeing the history of the U.S. from outside is a kind of corrective. It offers us a way to learn U.S. history for a purpose besides inoculating us with a good dose of patriotic loyalty. That is of course important. But if we are going to live in a globalized world as we have been told we do, we ought to have a better sense of how we got here and how our national past relates to it.