Monday, September 6, 2010

"Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change"

This week we had discussions about two articles. The one I was assigned to was “Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change” by James C. McKinley Jr. The article talked about a select group of people in Texas who wanted to exclude Thomas Jefferson from the textbooks in schools. Most people in our group thought this was wrong, but there was a counter argument.


I guess I think the best solution would be to have an objective textbook. Everyone who was important should be included and nothing they said or did should be changed. But it would be hard to determine what should stay and what should be left out. People would have to decide, making the book subjective. What is in the book definatly matters, but what stays in matters differently to everyone. It would be impossible to create an objective book unless everything that has ever happened in the world was included, and that would be difficult.

I do agree that history could be taught fairly and more effectively. Everyone would have to have an open mind though. There are things that a lot of people do not want to learn about such as the holocaust or African American racism, but both were huge in history. If everything is taught to everyone its fair. When emotions are left out it creates a more objective learning environment.

I think that the way things are presented would change history. If Hitler is portrayed as a hero, people will want to recreate the things he did. This is why its important that history is taught in the most objective way possible.

Obviously there are a lot of 1984 parallels with this topic. The changing of history is a big one. To me it shows how the society in 1984 started. Little things like taking out Jefferson kept happening until everything was changed completely.

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you Haley. They shouldn't take out Jefferson, because that could be like changing history in 1984. Also I agree that history should be taught fairly, but because everyone has their own way of learning and opinions it may be difficult. There also may not be enough time to teach what everyone wants. Things should be taught more effectivley too and i think that may help us students understand things a little bit more. This might also help us on our test too!

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  2. I agree that the textbooks should be as objective as possible. I also think that this would help the learning process because we would not be learning what the teacher thinks is important or their opinion on it, we would only learn the facts which would keep it objective. I agree that deciding what stays in the book and what should be taken out would be a very difficult decision because who has the right to say what is important for students to learn and what isn’t. Although putting every detail in the book would not even be possible. In my own opinion I don’t think that there can be a history book that is completely objective. I also agree with your opinion about the articles that we read being similar to 1984 because the board members in Texas are trying to change history and keep some information away from the citizens.

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