Lies My Teacher Told Me

contested, ongoing issues. Unlike the War of 1812, or even World War II, there can be no doubt about their relevance to the pres ...

about fifteen years earlier, he had revised and written several chapters of it. “I did it for the money,” he said, “ten thousand ...

which Kerry almost won, would have given Kerry 272 and the victory, to Bush’s 266. Does not the author recall the suspense on el ...

student obtain and read” it, indeed—most adults have never read a four- hundred-page poem in their lives, and if one did, how do ...

quotation is arresting and important. Holt then asks: “Identifying Bias: How does the writer reveal his opinion of the Black Cod ...

New England that devastated Indian societies before the Pilgrims came. “I didn’t know about it” was his straightforward reply. T ...

Bailey’s publisher pressed him to include more women and African Americans in The American Pageant.^61 Regardless of the directi ...

only a few high school or junior high school students personally. Interviews with textbook authors revealed that their imagining ...

displays no hint of feminism or socialism. Surely, a feminist author would write a textbook that would help readers understand w ...

Many teachers are frightened of controversy because they have not experienced it themselves in an academic setting and do not kn ...

at least a century have repeatedly exhorted teachers not to teach history as fact memorization. “Stir up the minds of the pupils ...

they feel defensive about the United States, especially in front of minority students. Like authors, teachers can feel that they ...

discussion might expose gaps in his/her information or intelligence. And they give students a sense of fairness about grading: p ...

A student of mine who was practice-teaching in an elementary school decided to introduce her students to what she had learned fr ...

history are not limited to our schooling, after all. These cultural lies have been woven into the fabric of our entire society. ...

organizations and delicate adoption procedures as American history textbooks. To be sure, math and biology books also err. But o ...

other motivation—most likely, greed or power. Therefore, a textbook like The American Pageant in 2006 emphasizes corruption and ...

razor-sharp swords. They even cut off the hand of one of their victims. Telling of skulls split open and providing minutiae like ...

wonderful, fair, and progressive our society has been give some students a basis for idealism. It may be empowering for children ...

56 percent—“have doubts but still want to teach to children” 30 percent—“don’t believe and don’t want to pass on to children” Th ...