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Relevance of history of education
Relevance of history of education
Relevance of history of education
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While reading Lies My Teacher Told Me, many thoughts stormed through my mind where I often questioned by public school education. As any other normal student living in America, it seems as if most of our history classes teach lies and go around the truth. In my life, it has not been until later on in high school where I feel as if I was taught the truth about the shaping of the world, when I had a few excellent teachers whom changed my perspective. Walter Benjamin once said, “history is written by the victors”, and this quote has stuck to me for a while when I first heard it from an excellent history teacher. Most of the textbooks created for American students shows our country as the best and a big brother to everyone else, but that does not seem to be the case at all times. The Land of Opportunity, chapter seven, stuck out to me the most, since it was relatable and connected to my previous history classes. …show more content…
Immigrants thought that the streets of America were paved in gold and anyone could go from rags to riches, but this was not true at all. Loewen states how, “textbooks do present immigrant history” even though this include the emphasis on rare success cases such as Andrew Carnegie and Joseph Pulitzer (213). In middle school, my eighth grade history class focused on Ellis Island, a place where many immigrants traveled to begin a “rags to riches life”, but my teacher never mentioned that many of these immigrants never actually become rich. Often times, if you are born poor, your family tends to stay poor for generations and
The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of birthplace, social class, or economic class, can attain success in the American society. Sadly, countless people will never achieve success in this society because they are foreign born. In Warren St. John’s book Outcasts United, St. John sheds light onto the numerous hardships that the tiny American town of Clarkston faces when thousands of refugees attempt to create a brand-new life there. At first Clarkston stood completely divided by original residents and refugees, but it wasn’t until the refugees and old residents saw past their physical differences of language, culture, and past life experiences that Clarkston began to thrive. Although the majority of projects started out helping
In the podcast, Americas Poverty Myths, #3: Rags to Riches, Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield discuss what causes the issue of poverty and how to get out of it. Gladstone and Garfield argue that to get out of poverty you need to be lucky and that people stay in the station in which they are born. Although I agree that being lucky can get you out of poverty, I don’t believe that it is the only way to escape the cycle of poverty because many people have gone from rags to riches without the help of luck. Gladstone and Garfield argue that you need to be lucky in order to get out of poverty, but that is not always the case.
Throughout the course of my life, I have always encountered individuals wanting to better their economic situation especially those within my community. Those who come from impoverished communities in other countries risk their lives and lifetime savings to come to the United States hoping that one day they will regain everything that they lost. Their only motivation to come to this country is to be able to provide their family with basic necessities and in order to do this, they must work two or more jobs that pay at minimum wage and are taken for granted. However, many individuals do not see this side of the story and categorize immigrants as unambitious people. In order to be completely aware of what immigrants truly go through and how they succeed in life, one must be willing to place themselves in their shoes and hear his/her story. We must acknowledge that the hands of these people work in back breaking jobs in order to sustain their families. While some Americans may be against immigrants arriving to the United States in search of a better life and the American Dream, in The Madonnas of Echo Park, Brando Skyhorse further reveals that immigrants are exploited as cheap labor, and although they contribute greatly to the everyday function of American industry, they are quite invisible.
Unfortunately, American history does have a habit of covering up its history for the sake of offering its younger generations a progress model. In a book titled Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen shows how the progress model mode of history telling has covered up many important events in American history to the point that children in public education are graduating high school with extremely warped views of history.
James Loewen wrote the book ?Lies My Teacher Told ME? to help the students of the United States become aware of their true history. This book attempts to show how and why American history has been taught the way it has without regard for the truth. Mr. Loewen had compared twelve different history textbooks they are: The Great Republic, The American Way, Land of Promise, Rise of the American Nation, Challenge of Freedom, American Adventures, Discovering American History, The American Tradition, Life and Liberty, The United States ? A History of the Republic, Triumph of the American Nation and The American Pageant. Loewen has argued his cases for Heroification, Euorcentrism and the first settlers, and Racism in our history. He has done this knowing fully that most people do not want to know the harsh realities of our nations past. The United States has tried to maintain a positive image throughout history. Unfortunately, it has many skeletons in its closet that need to come out to heal this great nation on many levels. If the public at large new the real role of racism in our nations infancy and how men tried to pursue their way of thinking as opposed to what is good for the country they would be ashamed at what the United States has stood for in the past.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on over glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride.
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
Some people never get satisfied with what they have. In the stories, "Amir", and, "Gold Mountain Poems", The life lesson is to be happy for what you have. In both stories the main characters are immigrants coming to America. In the story, Amir just moved here from India and is upset with the people. In the poem the speaker is taken to an immigrant island instead of being released to go live in America. In both stories they are grateful for what they have.
Michael Gold’s novel Jews Without Money is set in a slum area in the United States mainly populated by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. In coming to the United States, usually, it is a hardship for many immigrants. Many deal with poverty and live in impoverished communities as well as class issues, due to being the oppressed race. As shown in Michael Gold’s Jews Without Money, Gold illustrates the hardships and struggles of growing up as an immigrant in America. Jews Without Money portrays the world of poverty leads to crime, a working class struggling to keep up with the progressing industrializing era, and capitalist views, all of which have relevance in today’s society. As well as still having relevance today, had it been published
This book is written from a perspective foreign to most Americans. Historically, American students are taught from a single perspective, that being the American perspective. This approach to history (the single perspective) dehumanizes the enemy and glorifies the Americans. We tend to forget that those on the opposing side are also human.
Stephen Steinberg makes a good point, when having been at the right place, right time, to gain an investment opportunity. In the book, Outliers, Steinberg says that “There is no doubt that those Jewish immigrants arrived at the perfect time, with the perfect skills,” says sociologist Stephen Steinberg. “To exploit that opportunity, you had to have certain and those immigrants worked hard. They sacrificed. They scrimped and saved and invested wisely. But still, you have to remember that the garment industry in those years was growing by leaps and bounds. The economy was desperate for the skills that they possessed.”(145). I agree. I agree the being there at the right place and time can lead to possible unique opportunities. For example a man
The United States cannot afford to lose the economic gains that come from immigrant labor. The economy would be suffering a greater loss if it weren’t for immigrants and their labor contributions, especially during the 2008 U.S. recession. The U.S. economy would most likely worsen if it weren’t for the strong labor force immigrants have provided this country. Despite the mostly negative views native-born Americans have towards immigrants and the economy, their strong representation in the labor forces continues today. Immigrants aren’t taking “American” jobs, they are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Immigrants contribute to various aspects of the economy, including brining valuable skills to their jobs, contributing to the cost of living through taxes, and the lacked use of welfare, healthcare, and social security when compared to native-born Americans, showing that the United States cannot afford to lose the contribution immigrants bring into the economy.
There is a saying that history tends to repeat itself and this intact is restated in Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. We seem to study the past and touch on delicate topics but after the semester ends we forget about it and do not go back to refresh what we have memorized. All high school and middle schools do today is memorize without reason making the learning experience also a thing of the past. We are taught all these facts and opinions that we soon tend to forget our past. Loewen definitely refreshes memories of his readers by demonstrating how American history textbooks are full of lies and leave out the little details that were very important. The discovery of the “New World” was the gateway to a new era of social
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.
As the first chapter in this long analytical book, chapter one serves as the foundation for the rest of the novel, with a basic premise that “history textbooks make fool out of the students.” It shows how portrayal of historical figures and events in the best light for the reputation of United States leads to biased and distorted historical education.