For homework tonight in Contemp, I have to read a couple articles and answer some questions. As we established in our class discussions, history in 9th grade was boiled down to looking up the answers to questions on worksheets and not getting a full sense of the material. However, this year I have noticed that Mr. Wright provides us with articles offering opposing viewpoints and leads class into debates every week. While I answer questions, I also understand the history as a whole, not just snippets cut here and there. In class, we have debated the justification of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and whether we ourselves would racially discriminate in a real-life situation. And tonight, the article is bashing all sorts of aspects of America quite severely (how plastic we are, how bureaucratic "they" are). It struck me as odd that I'd be hearing such an acerbic view on America from a history class, which I have always viewed as a dry subject with just rote memorization of facts.
The nationalism that some history textbooks and some history teachers will preach in, for example, US history, is a way to circumvent controversy. A teacher does not want to be labeled an unpatriotic person, or an America-hater, so he/she sings the praises of the US and all its achievements. But my Contemp teacher, by giving us articles written by different viewpoints and not claiming any as his own, avoids controversy directed at himself but still provides us with various points of view on controversial topics. At the same time, it is emphasizing how different interpretations to history exist, instead of leaving us with a simplified, sugarcoated knowledge of history.
-- tori
I remember in 5th grade, the first year that we used a real textbook for US history, my teacher would always end learning about an event with the question, "Why was America right in doing this?" America was never wrong, and could never be wrong. There were especially never any conflicting viewpoints in America.
ReplyDeleteContemp this year is really the first history class I have taken that goes in depth to the differing opinions (AP US did a little, but we were too busy trying to cram 400 years into 9 months). After all, history is defined by how people interpret it. As you said, teachers don't want to talk about controversial issues. They either preach that America is always right, like my 5th grade teacher, avoid the subject entirely, or, as Mr. Wright does, argue against everything. I've noticed that in that class, he never explicitly says his opinion, but questions everything about every side of everybody else's opinions. This way, the class gets all the possible viewpoints, and is left to pick which one they believe is "right".
-Audrey
P.S. Nice use of a vocab word.