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Lies My History Teacher Told Me Summary

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Recommended: Assimilation in the united states

I must admit I was excited to jump into reading this particular study. Just from looking at the title, this looked like one of the most interesting topics of inquiry to me. I recently started reading James Loewen’s Lies my History Teacher Told Me, and in that book, the author explores not only the stone-cold lies history textbooks (and by virtue those who use them) perpetuate, but the sometimes delicate reasons these lies continue. While my heart demands that everyone knows the full truth about everything at any age, my rational mind at least considers that some issues need to be covered at the right developmental stage of a child’s cognitive maturation. Things such as statistically insurmountable odds related to social class and mobility (or lack thereof), historical race/gender/class issues, and the true history of American/European imperialism may not always be the best thing to share with young minds lacking the historical and cognitive framework and background to digest this material in an academic way. …show more content…

America in 2015 does not (in aggregate) have the most favorable view of the middle-east and immigrants who come here from that troubled region of the world. And in relation to some of the topics I have been reading about in Loewen, this author tackles the dichotomy of public school systems serving as a place where all children go to learn, but also a place where immigrants learn and understand the “American Way” and assimilate to our culture. The introduction explores two schools of thought were an institution could serve in a functionalist capacity (assimilate ASAP), or in a cultural pluralism (live under the US Flag, but keep all of your customs). The findings and discussion showed that this particular high school for all of its challenges strived to respect and accommodate the culture, language, and history of its high-Arab immigrant

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