Disciplie: A Basic Human Outline
Human beings have always connected past events to their everyday experiences. Many cultures, such as the Greeks and Native Americans, used mythology to explain the conditions in which they lived. Today we still use history to explain what is going on in our lives, but the history is documented, not told through mythic stories. In schools we attempt to teach this history in social studies classes. These should not be referred to as history classes since history is taught no more in these classes than politics, economics, and geography. History does differ from these others because it is taught very differently everywhere. In other words, slavery will be taught differently in South Carolina than it will be in New York. While geography and economics have more potential to be taught in a standard form with less interpretation. History then, is the connection humans make between current situations and their past and is distinctive to each culture. Whether the connection is made through myths and stories or though real documents like the Declaration of Independence, humans use history both as a guide for the future and as a reference to the past. Society, in recent years, emphasized the role of schools in teaching children about h
History has the ability to manifest its self in a variety of ways. Another way of saying this is saying that history was invented. The southerners invented the way they taught about slavery while the north did the same. So even though both north and south have the same facts to teach from but they are able to teach them in any manner they see fit. So to say that history was invented, to a point, is a true statement. The Greek gods, as we see them, were fictitious characters, inventions of the pervious generations to teach moral lesson to the next generation. To some, these gods may not be invented; instead they might be the supreme rulers of the world. On the other hand, Hitler was real, and so were the millions of Jews that lost their lives during the reign of the Nazis. Hitler was not invented but the way of looking at and considering Hitler, historically, was invented. The ability to invent history allows for history, as I have defined it, to take shape. I said the teaching of history is partly based on cultural relevance. The ancient Greeks invented myths to explain the world around them. The invention of Hitler’s legacy can serve as a testament of how catastrophic hate truly can be. Americans leaders have entered numerous foreign countries under the pretense of protecting human rights in that nation that can be related back to the legacy of Hitler and the atrocities that occurred in the 1940’s. So those who decide to be teachers of history become responsible for teaching a very abstract discipline. There are many ethical issues that surface when discussing the topic of teaching history. In public schools, with high levels of diversity, whose version of history do we teach? I was once told “History is written by the winners.” In the case of the United States this would be white middle and upper-class citizens. When 90% of a school is African American or Hispanic, why should teachers present the upper class,
Some topics in this essay:
Social Studies,
Nazis Hitler,
American Hispanic,
Declaration Independence,
Civil War,
Native Americans,
Carolina York,
,
american history,
teaching history,
version history,
version american history,
version american,
social studies,
multicultural version,
teach multicultural version,
cultures history,
teach multicultural,
multicultural version american,
history societies,
studies teachers,
social studies teachers,
students mandated tests,
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Approximate Word count = 1307
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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