Scored Discussion #5, Fall 2019

12/20/2019

UPDATE, 1/10/2020, 8:25am: I have removed the spoof posts and have re-opened the board. All comments will now require moderator approval by me before they post to the board, so If you don't see your comment right away after you post it, that's because it is awaiting approval. I will receive a notification when someone has posted so you don't need to communicate with me after submitting a comment.
-H

UPDATE, 1/10/2020, 7:58am: So there are a lot of spoof comments on the board right now, some from people pretending to be me, so I'm closing the board until I can purge those comments, and, when it re-opens, I will be directly moderating and approving all comments.
-H

The online comments for this discussion will follow the same format as previous discussions: ONE original post and THREE follow-up posts are required for all students. If you were absent you need to post 15 points worth of additional comments, each comment is worth 3 points. ALL comments need to be original (don't repeat yourself) and reply comments must be more than "I agree..." then a restatement of the original post to which you are responding. All comments are due by Monday, January 13, 10:00 pm.

557 Comments

Lauren Boulia

1/6/2020 09:10:31 am

In all of these texts, whether they supported conservative education or the opposite, had a large amount of bias. Our discussion was mainly centered on how students should find ways to escape bias. How do you think students can avoid polarizing bias, or can they avoid bias at all?

Juhi Chatterjee

1/6/2020 09:40:34 am

I don’t think students can completely eliminate bias. I feel as if majority of texts have some sort of bias in them and it is hard to escape it. I think in order to polarize the bias expressed in texts, students must be taught historical events from all point of view. While that takes up more time in class, I believe that knowing all perspectives of all historical events can help to eliminate students from receiving information with bias.

Femi Chiegil

1/13/2020 10:47:13 am

I agree with that statement. Bias cannot be completely cut off because some information given to students or written in the textbooks are biased which often happens unconsciously and to reduce this from happening, students should be taught history in all view points.

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 10:13:25 am

I think avoiding bias completely would be very difficult. Many times, students wouldn't know what is biased and what is not. What we learn from history is what historians have concluded it to be, but there is no way to tell if some things are accurate. Avoiding bias is inevitable, but that is why we looked at many different sources about the same topic. However, what we gain from that is just what seems correct. Students add their own biases, so it can never be avoided.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:28:43 pm

I think it is definitely not 100% possible to avoid bias in the educational system. There is so much tension and opinions surrounding subjects such as history which creates a certain amount of biased towards or against situations or people whether or not it is intentional or not.

jared

1/7/2020 07:36:34 am

i think that students can avoid bias by reading primary documents and also by reading into many difference sources from different places and from people from different backgrounds

Devin Bhatt

1/10/2020 11:35:24 am

I think that students can avoid bias by reading primary documents and also by reading into many difference sources from different places and from people from different backgrounds. This way, they are able to form their own opinion about the history that they have encountered. That is why seminars are a very good ideas because they are able to understand all different types of point of views. Although this does take up alot of time, knowing all perspectives of history can stop students from encountering heavy bias.

Taewan Park

1/11/2020 08:33:38 pm

I think that it is essential to properly understand the fundamentalism of history in order to escape bias that textbook contains. Being taught, I think that it is our responsibility to be aware of biased information and have the ability to filter then with our strong understanding of the history.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:18:21 pm

Bias is very difficult to eliminate completely. One alternative to avoid bias as much as possible would be to be open to differences and all perspectives and sides of the story. Although some bias is just unavoidable, for example, implicit bias is very unavoidable because it happens in ones' self conscious.

Ameena Farooqui

1/13/2020 08:06:51 pm

I think it is very hard for students to avoid bias at all. Therfore in order to combat this issue I think students should be provided with different viewpoints and perspectives. This can be done with sources from databases or documents. Therefore students can cover all scopes of bias and formulate their own opinion.

javairia qadir

1/13/2020 09:12:51 pm

I think that in order for students to avoid some bias included in the text books is for the textbooks to present information that is necessary and relevant to the topics and leave out information that may be upsetting to some audiences.

Anisha Harkara

1/13/2020 09:32:52 pm

I totally agree with you, its very difficult to get rid of bias. I do think students can avoid it to a certain extent using multiples sources, and more primary sources, however, I still doesn’t get rid of bias completely. I think primary sources can help one better understand the situation, but it doesn’t always reveal what actually happened. It also doesn’t take other perspectives into account.

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:43:27 pm

Historical bias in education is unavoidable. The best way to prevent polarization is to have students use sources that have different biases on the same material. This would not only give students a deeper coverage of historical events but also expose them to more standpoints on the events.

Amritha Alaguraj

1/20/2020 05:51:37 pm

I think, like many people have said, that bias can't be completely avoided because inadvertently everyone will have their own personal biases due to experience, current situations, etc. But the only way students can try to avoid bias is by looking at information that is the most objective. That way students can form an opinion that will mostly likely lean towards not being biased regardless of personal bias.

Gustav Cedergrund link

1/6/2020 09:20:37 am

Who do you think should have the power to change the curriculum that is taught in school?

Jake Park-Walters

1/6/2020 09:47:28 am

I believe that only a national board with as little regional bias as possible should be able to regulate history curriculum. Regardless of who is able to change it, someone or some group will always be unhappy because a single group cannot possibly satisfy every region. Thus, it doesn't matter so much who has the power to change curriculum because someone will always be changing it.

Thien Do

1/6/2020 09:47:33 am

The students I would argue. The students are the one learning it after all, and it's up to them whether they decide to keep the information or lose it right after. If the students were allowed to decide on the curriculum and research on their own, they may keep the information for life. Although, some people may not be interested in history and will choose to learn nothing, one could argue. But, I think that our decision to enjoy history or not starts from when we were a child, and being able to explore history would allow us to enjoy it. Besides, the ones unmotivated to do history would just forget the information after they learn the information the normal route anyways.

Juhi Chatterjee

1/6/2020 09:54:37 am

I believe that there should be a board or special group that determines what makes it into the curriculum. However, I believe that it should be diverse in a way that many different perspectives get to be included into the curriculum. Also, I think history teachers themselves should have some say in what gets to be included because they know what’s best for their students. Also history teachers address bias and inform their students about bias. They also try to include the stories of multiple perspectives to give their students a better understanding of the historical situation. Because of this, I think they should have an input of what should be included in the curriculum so that they can deal with the bias.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:33:38 pm

I think a large group of people should be responsible for deciding the curriculum so that there is a broader more diverse version of input when deciding curriculum. For one I feel that students should get a say in what they learn because if they are learning things they want to they will be more engaged. Second I think parents should have a say in what they feel their children geet to learn in a positive not restricting way. Lastly I think a wide group of teachers from all over the country should make some of the most impactful decisions on curriculum.

Bryce Hagstrom

1/6/2020 08:46:42 pm

The people with the ability to change to curriculum should be a national board of educators who are experience and a diverse group in order to give the students a round sense of the past and a strong foundation for their morals and American ideals.

Joey Schifano

1/9/2020 09:18:38 am

I think that creating a national board of educators would be beneficial. All states would be required to learn the same things and states could include ciriculum relavent to their state

Sharayu Gugnani

1/9/2020 08:35:32 pm

I agree. The state a student lives in should not determine the quality of education. That is against our constitutional values of equality and opportunity.

Taewan Park

1/11/2020 08:38:57 pm

I agree that there should be a national board of educators to select curriculum. In the readings, it finds many decisions of individual state such as Texas board of education problematic or very controversial. Having individual states to decide their own curriculum might bring biased information while having a national board could possibly prevent from this by diverse point of views merging at one point of their opinions to establish the most ideal decisions.

George Durrett

1/13/2020 10:40:27 am

This national board could work very well especially if made up of current and former educators working with experts in their specific fields. This would allow for expert opinions combined with the practicality of a teacher's opinion to create textbooks that can be very useful students, giving them the knowledge they need.

Austin Nguyen

1/6/2020 10:41:46 pm

It was written in one of the passages, but I'm not sure which. It stated that those who struggled the most in school should be the ones who should decide the curriculum. This is because they know the issues with the curriculum and what ways it could be improved to help students that may be struggling just as they had.

Joey Schifano

1/9/2020 09:21:14 am

Are you suggesting the poorest preforming students be in charge of the cirriculum? I think instaed we should just have diverse, qualified, educators determine our education. I also do not think that they should be appointed by a partisain party- like a govonor- because this leaves room for political bias in education

Siyona Shah

1/10/2020 11:48:03 am

While I agree that the people who struggle the most in schools should have a voice in the decision of what the curriculum is; I believe that it should include a diverse array of opinions - from the smartest, most qualified to the poor, and unqualified - this way, the students will receive a well-rounded education.

“Not only did the committee look for multiethnic content but also multicultural. Burns: We were operating under state guidelines. One of the guidelines, which was a new one, was that the textbooks - they should be multicultural in their content and in their authorship.”

Including many opinions will help the textbooks become more multicultural which will benefit the students in the end.

George Durrett

1/13/2020 10:45:59 am

I do not believe that the ones who do the poorest in school with the materials given should necessarily decide what curriculum goes into our textbooks; however, they could be a useful source of input to determine what is necessary to add to help a students understanding. More importantly though, we should be focusing on what information is being taught relating to importance of events and making sure we do not leave out information that people should know. For example students struggling may help improve wording in textbooks to help them understand the curriculum, but not be much help to determine what we actually study.

jared

1/7/2020 07:33:42 am

i feel like when it comes to changing the curriculum that is taught in schools it should be left up to parents and the state combined to make the decision to change when they feel like they need it.

George Durrett

1/13/2020 10:48:44 am

I disagree with this because not all parents are experts in such a broad field such as science or history being taught and altered in the textbooks being taught. A group of highly educated experts along with educators could design a curriculum both practical to students and educating. This would allow for the students to get the true information they need.

Michael Herrera

1/8/2020 08:16:47 pm

I think that when it comes to who decides a curriculum, it should be a board made up of the combined effort of teachers and parents. This is because teachers are the ones who know which things their students should and shouldn't be learning depending on what is actually important information. But parents should also have a voice because after all these students are their children and they also deserve to voice their opinion about what they feel is best for their children.

Will Barbee

1/13/2020 12:25:32 pm

This might be a good solution but historians who are experts on the actual subjects should be able to determine what information is most important before this process goes through. I think teachers should have the highest vote because their experience can help dictate what information has had the best impact on their students and what information is useful for the actual course.

Mackenzie Adams

1/9/2020 12:26:18 pm

I think that it should be a combination of educators who have background knowledge of the subject along with a board of people made up by parents. This way there is multiple inputs on the topic and could prevent future controversy.

Devin Bhatt

1/10/2020 11:40:07 am

I believe that the a group of elected officials, who are elected by the people living in that region or county, should decide what type of history should be shown in class. It is ultimately the people who run the country and it is their job to decide how the government should be run and what is taught.

George Durrett

1/13/2020 10:52:44 am

I very much see the point that the people should decide what their children learn in school; however, in many cases this leads to strong biases relating to things like religion and political party. This allows for things like leaving out certain parts of history as seen in the Texas school board. Experts in the fields being taught should be the ones who decide what is taught in our public school systems and not people uneducated on the subjects.

Siyona Shah

1/10/2020 11:44:38 am

I think parents and members of the community should have the power to change the curriculum that is taught in schools because it is their kids that have to learn it.

“My name is Russ Isaacs. I was on the Kanawha County Board of Education for six years. Why not leave it up to the professionals? I mean what are we paying these people to do? I mean, they are professional educators. What am I? I'm an accountant. What the hell do I know about education?”

I disagree with this quote from Podcast on “The Great Textbook War” from WV Public Radio, because just because he doesn't know anything about education doesn't mean that he shouldn't get an opinion. It shouldn't just be left up to the "professionals" who can be very biased on some topics - especially conservatives and liberals.

George Durrett

1/13/2020 10:56:34 am

Although it is important to have representation in the government deciding what should be taught, it is very important that what we learn should be what is important and we should make sure we do not leave out substantial things. Leaving this up to people uneducated to the subjects would cause what we learn to be biased and less helpful.

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:46:45 pm

While it is important to listen to as many diverse opinions as possible, administration of education is best left to experts in the field. Hearing out people such as Russ Isaacs may help to nullify some bias going into history curriculums, but if the job were left to only people like Isaacs there may be an even smaller filter on bias entering the curriculum.

Semeon Petros

1/10/2020 01:15:06 pm

I think that creating a national board of educators would be beneficial. All states would be required to learn the same things and states could include curriculum relevant to their state

Ryan Xiao

1/13/2020 12:22:15 am

I think that there should be an independent group of people, like a board, that are unaffiliated with any party to provide a more neutral view and give less political thought when putting information into the textbook. People like former judges would be knowledgeable of what is important in history and they are relatively unbiased compared to the people who make the books nowadays.

Femi Chiegil

1/13/2020 10:58:04 am

I believe that aside the national board, parents and students should have a say in what should be in the curriculum to offer a wide range of perspectives, which might reduce bias. Parents need to be provided with facts and frameworks of what their children are learning so therefore, they should be able to have a say in what should be put in the curriculum, also students are the ones being taught so their point of views will be helpful.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:24:38 pm

I believe that there should be a variety of people involved in changing the school curriculum, not just the school board. People who are directly affected by school and teachings such as students, parents, and teachers should have a say and have a power to change what is taught because it is relevant to them the most. I believe that the group of people should be diverse, consisting of different cultures and races in order to create an equal education system which is fair for all. This, I believe, is the best way to solve any controversies that may arise.

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:00:08 pm

I think parents, leaders of communities, and to some extent, the government should have the power to change the curriculum. Parents and leaders of communities should have the most power, but the government should also have some input. The government should not be allowed to censor topics from being taught in schools. This would prevent a whole population not knowing about an important event (like how many people in China do not know about Tiananman Square). Maybe the government can choose certain topics that must be covered and the parents/community leaders can add more if they need, in addition to the government topics.

Amritha Alaguraj

1/20/2020 05:58:40 pm

I think anyone should have the power to change the curriculum whether its parents, students, teachers or anyone in general. If a person feels that the curriculum isn't right and won't help create a good teaching environment, then they have the right to change that. For example, a bunch of students and parents protested the new MVP math program because they believed that the program didn't help students and didn't help to achieve success in math. Its because of them the the curriculum is being reconsidered for the MVP program. So in summary, anyone who wants the change the curriculum should have the power to change it.

Lauren Boulia

1/6/2020 09:26:54 am

What pros and cons do you think lie on the side of conservative education? What about a liberal education? What effects do you think each has on it's students?

Juhi Chatterjee

1/6/2020 09:49:17 am

A pro for conservatism is that it is easy to understand. In conservative education, everyone knows the agreeables rather than the dynamics to the situation. A con of conservative eduction is that it is based upon fear of things that people do not understand. A pro for liberal education is that it tends to be more hopeful, however a con is that it is much less understood. They are not good or bad things, however I believe that there is a different time for each, and using them appropriately would be the best for the education of students.

Sharayu Gugnani

1/9/2020 08:41:25 pm

Harder to understand just means it requires critical thinking. A easy education that does not stimulate our minds leads to a population that can be swayed like grass in the wind. The right to vote come with an expectation to be well informed and critical of our surroundings.

Then Do

1/6/2020 10:17:16 am

Although conservative education may protect children from sensitive information, they will not be able to know the real situation that happened during the time and get inaccurate feelings toward the event. In a liberal education however, the student will get the entirety of the situation, however this can traumatize them and possibly hurt their mental growth, especially in cases of genocides.

Thien Do

1/6/2020 10:30:56 pm

*name

Sharayu Gugnani

1/9/2020 08:45:47 pm

A liberal education does not guarantee trauma. If taught right, students can learn about the bad parts of history without any harm to mental health. This is also where we can have a more focused look on student mental health.

Anisha Harkara

1/13/2020 09:39:14 pm

Both conservative and liberal education isn’t ideal. A more neutral approach would probably be better. Perhaps sharing some events to children, but not to the extent of traumatizing them. Honestly I don’t think that kids would really be traumatized, I would be more worried about them discriminating people who were historically discriminated against. I think that once they are older they would understand the seriousness of an event.

Bryce Hagstrom

1/6/2020 08:53:43 pm

Both sides only cover certain political biases so if our educational system could adopt both ideas and represent them in the same textbook, students then could decide for themselves about their stance on politics helping to keep people true to themselves.

Mackenzie Adams

1/9/2020 12:29:52 pm

I think that both conservative and liberal educations have many flaws with how and what curriculum is taught. History is a “chain of events” in that one event causes another to occur and both types of education leave out important details of history that confuse the “chain of events”. There should be a level of national standardization when it comes to curriculum in order to prevent biases in education.

Devin Bhatt

1/10/2020 11:42:18 am

A pro to conservative education is that it gives the students a strong sense of pride to their country. The students are proud to live in this country due to this education. A con would be that it may not recognize other perspectives that are significant to the history. A pro for liberal education is that it tends to be more hopeful, however a con is that it is much less understood. They are not good or bad things, however I believe that there is a different time for each, and using them appropriately would be the best for the education of students.

Brenna Hanson

1/11/2020 04:02:34 pm

I feel like both a strongly conservative shaped education and liberal shaped education are both missing the mark for what it means to have a good education. In my opinion, curriculums that are heavily shaped by a current political agenda tend to be one sided and ill informed, as seen in the situation in Texas. A good education will help students understand and solve the problems of the rest of their lives, not just the problems of the present. This requires students to learn to be independent and adaptable. If you are trying to convince a student to agree with you through education, you are going about teaching them the wrong way. While students are going to absorb political leanings and biases no matter what, I think the best educators and curriculums are the ones that trust students to think and decide for the themselves.

Morgan Kelley

1/12/2020 02:03:14 pm

Conservative education can best be explained through its limitations placed on the education and history of many minority groups-- focusing for the most part on experiences of the white male. This type of education greatly diminishes the quality of the student's knowledge (lacking a comprehensive understanding), and falsifies inherently discriminatory policies as passive and unrelated actions. A liberal education changes this traditional form of learning and teaches evidence based events and movements with complex relationships. Additionally, it highlights great impact that discrimination has played and discusses other "poorly appearing" actions made by our nation. Negatively, it takes more complex explanations are more intense studying to understand, yet this argument can quickly be countered by understanding the great importance of such issues.

javairia qadir

1/13/2020 09:17:25 pm

I think conservative education is trying to keep tradition, but sometimes change is good and is needed. Liberal education change is good as I said before, but it has its limits. Teaching children the extremes of one or the other is probably not a good idea considering how they will react to being really limited or given room for trial and error without many limits.

Uma Bhat

1/13/2020 09:52:40 pm

I don't believe either side should be given any weight because ultimately, facts should be given straightforward without much bias and views supported with other pieces of evidence unrelated. It should be up to the learner to form their own perspective on history using the facts of their choosing to interpret (quite literally the definition of history). That being said, how does religion (conservative) shape our education system today, whether we know it or not? Have we learnt anything that supports a typically Christian ideology?

Lauren Boulia

1/6/2020 09:32:42 am

The name of the discussion, "Who Owns History-" Who do you believe has the most control over how we perceive history and how we are taught it? Who controls our image of "history"?

Jake Park-Walters

1/6/2020 09:49:02 am

Regardless of who regulates our curriculum, buys our textbooks, or plans what we learn, it is ultimately up to the individual teacher to teach material or not. Thus, I believe that while those on school boards wield great influence, history teachers have even more.

Teara Anderson

1/13/2020 09:10:49 pm

I agree, but also disagree with this statement. It is true that the history textbook influences people's opinions greatly and the way and what a teacher portrays history changes perspectives as well. But I feel like when people get to a certain age, it isn't necessarily the teacher that has the most influence or the textbook, but what they choose to believe. Someone who is steadfast in their ways and views might not change how they see something just because of how a teacher expresses a lesson. I feel that while yes, history books and history teachers even, have very large control on how people view history, you have to consider the person and if they are actually willing to learn about what they might not know or even what they already know. People control their own images of history.

Teara D Anderson

1/13/2020 09:19:44 pm

I agree but also disagree with this statement. I believe that while history teachers and history textbooks do greatly influence how people ideate history, it is also up to everyone's interpretation and if they want to see history that way. Up to a certain age, I do feel that history teachers control the image of history more than others would because many people put their learning trust in teachers because in this society a degree means "I know what I'm doing". But after a certain age and especially with steadfast people, it's more on the person to create their history. Look at it like this, a person who believes wholeheartedly that slavery wasn't that bad despite what the textbook and teachers have said, isn't going to change his/her view based on someone else's words. They have to want to change the image for themselves.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:36:34 pm

the school board and the state are most responsible for our perception of history as well as our government who instills a huge overall sense of patriotism and nationality which some of the most prominent forms of bias in our education system.

Austin Nguyen

1/6/2020 10:40:17 pm

I think in the end its the parents and teachers that control how we perceive history. Teachers make a choice to teach from the textbook and if they're not knowledgeable in history it carries over to the students. Parents also have a large influence, especially on younger children because children will probably believe anything their parents say.

Annie Pi

1/8/2020 12:36:59 pm

“How people think about the past is an important part of their consciousness. If members of the elite come to think that their privilege was historically justified and earned, it will be hard to persuade them to yield opportunity to others. If members of deprived groups come to think that their deprivation is their own fault, then there will be no need to use force or violence to keep them in their places.” I think this is important as the rich want to stay rich, and they want the poor to stay poor. If the rich believe that their wealth and privilege was justly and hard-earned, they will continue to believe that they deserve to be rich, and the poor deserve to be poor. This creates a cycle, as the rich control the production, distribution, and content of textbooks, and they can modify them to fit the ideals that support them. This way the social hierarchy can be maintained and those on lower levels who are socio-economically disadvantaged believe that there is no way to help it because of the way social studies education has shaped their perspective of the society they live in.

Joey Schifano

1/9/2020 10:43:03 am

I think that people in power own history because they determine what aspects of our society should be reflected in textbooks

Mackenzie Adams

1/9/2020 12:32:05 pm

I think that the textbook, more the publishers and editors of the textbook, control how we perceive history. It all depends on what textbook you read in school and what biases the textbook has or doesn’t have. Learning history with the biases that are in textbooks changes the way we perceive our image of history.

Daniel Mariano

1/10/2020 09:31:28 am

I feel that in general the textbook corporations have control over the history we see. They are the companies that make it in favor of the schools that will buy the textbooks with specific historical information that they may or may not want the school to learn about, thus textbook companies having power in what history we see.

Semeon Petros

1/10/2020 01:20:18 pm

I think the people that record the history that is taught in class and select the information that is taught have the most power. They can omit the things they dont want to teach and add in things they want like propaganda.

Taewan Park

1/11/2020 08:51:44 pm

I think that it is us, students who owns the history and we ourselvves has the most control over how we perceive history and how we are being taught. I think that history could be perceived differently by each individual thus changing its shape. Although everyone would learn similar context, about Columbus, Civil rights, Native Americans in America, and although some truths will remain truthful, it's our responsibility to freely interpret, understand, ask questions, and make our own judgement.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:28:24 pm

I believe that the state and the school board has the most control. It is mentioned in the article that the state has the power to pass regulations and censor specific materials of history. Also, textbooks, which is mainly where students are taught information from, are purchased by the school board. In this sense I believe that history is controlled by the state and the school board.

Ameena Farooqui

1/13/2020 08:13:00 pm

I believe the people who have the most control over how we perceive history is through our teachers. This is because even though we are provided with materials such as textbooks it is ultimately the teacher who plans our curriculum and chooses what to teach. And although the school board has influence it, the knowledge and bias a history teacher gives during a lesson influence our opinions.

Juhi Chatterjee

1/6/2020 09:37:39 am

Do you think promoting patriotism is important in textbooks? If so, how do you determine how much patriotism is too much and when can it become a bad thing in textbooks?

Jake Park-Walters

1/6/2020 09:51:34 am

I believe that teaching patriotism is important especially in the nationalistic culture that we live. The extent, however, should be limited to when emphasizing our values detracts from our view of other nations. Our patriotism is good but only when it doesn't create negative connotations of other regions.

Femi Chiegil

1/13/2020 11:19:41 am

I stand by that point because Patriotism should definitely be taught in classrooms to prepare students to stand by their country at all times and obtain values to demonstrate while in support but not to the extent of overshadowing other countries.

Luna Hou

1/6/2020 04:00:42 pm

I think promoting patriotism in textbooks is important to some extent, particularly when it comes to encouraging students to vote and engage more in today's political climate with an arsenal of historical knowledge at their disposal. Unfortunately, according to one of the documents we read, "Why is History Taught Like This?", textbooks in general haven't been very effective in encouraging students to more actively adopt this role, but even ignoring this potential benefit, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find an American textbook without any patriotism, which is understandable and fine to study; like Jake mentioned, I think it only really becomes a problem when parts of history are unfairly skewed or omitted entirely to paint the U.S. in an overly positive light. That being said, the line between dictating when patriotism comes to be too much is definitely fuzzy, though a good measure of an appropriate amount might be if both sides are addressed more or less equally in a given textbook for a given event. Ultimately, considering the biases that will inevitably exist in any source one comes across, patriotism being one major factor in textbooks, perhaps the best method to learn history is the way we have approached it in this class, studying and analyzing sources from a variety of points of view, pointing out their biases, and synthesizing them to come to our own unique conclusions.

Jared Daniel

1/7/2020 07:39:26 am

i feel like promoting patriotism is important in promoting pride in the country but also you don't want to create a idea of superiority and prejudiced towards other countries

Michael Herrera

1/8/2020 07:22:21 pm

I do think it is important to promote patriotism in our textbooks because for all it's faults, America is still a great country. But on the other hand it's also important that that students who read history textbooks know that there are many instances in which the U.S. has had severe lapses in judgement. Instances like slavery and the Vietnam War were not America's finest moment an it's important that students understand like all things, the U.S. has it's pros and cons.

Ameena Farooqui

1/13/2020 08:18:59 pm

I believe promoting patriotism is valid to some extent to teach students to stand by their country and engage students to be more active. However kids should be taught in a way where superiority is not promoted and allow the student to question our country.

Teara Anderson

1/13/2020 09:24:30 pm

I feel like promoting patriotism isn't important in textbooks. I think promoting patriotism in textbooks leads to lies and sugarcoating about the foundations and basis a country stands on. There are many other ways to feel pride in a country or even to express patriotism throughout a country, I just don't think textbooks should be one of those ways. If the authors weren't as worried about making citizens feel pride in the nation, many harsh and gruesome events that need to be taught would be brought to the light in a deeper sense to understand real meanings and invalid justifications.

Logan Siege

1/14/2020 09:01:43 pm

In my opinion, patriotism is not a bad thing, although it might sway the point of view of the reader in favor of the country being supported. I feel patriotism becomes too much once bias is implied upon historical events in a textbook.

Juhi Chatterjee

1/6/2020 09:41:54 am

As stated in the letter in the Who Owns History document set, do you also believe that the information in textbooks should be interwoven with narratives to make textbooks fun to read? Or should textbooks just stick to being strictly factual?

Marta

1/6/2020 09:56:39 am

I disagree that narratives would necessarily make textbooks fun to read. While potentially adding different perspectives, narratives would also add additional bias which is what textbooks attempt to eliminate. In other words, I believe that textbooks and narratives should remain separate, but both be considered and evaluated when studying a topic.

Luna Hou

1/6/2020 04:07:39 pm

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for select narratives to be integrated into textbooks, if not to further engage students in the material then to allow them to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints on a certain issue, similar to the way we have studied history in this class. Our school textbook already does this to some extent, containing excerpts from various primary and secondary sources on certain issues as well as pictures of propaganda and other media from those time periods, and I think this provides effective context for students to analyze, naturally immersing them more in what they are learning while emphasizing the multifaceted nature of all historical events. As long as these narratives were to be carefully chosen (for example, including two or more narratives on any event deserving of one, representing two extremes on a controversial issue or perhaps just several differing opinions) and the textbooks were to acknowledge their lack of objectivity, I think mixing traditional textbook material with more story-like features could definitely have a positive impact on students' learning.

Clare Whittelsey

1/7/2020 08:18:34 pm

I think narratives should be used in textbooks, in any case of learning I believe one learns better through using other sources than just facts. These other tools such as stories can allow the student to understand the topic deeper- which is an extremely beneficial thing.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/9/2020 08:59:30 pm

I believe that the information in textbooks should be interwoven with narratives not just because they make them more fun to read, but because they give a first hand POV on the events of that time. But, at the same time, by including narratives, the author of the textbook has to be careful not to include any bias.

Morgan Kelley

1/12/2020 02:20:57 pm

I don't believe that adding a fictional narrative-- even if based upon factual evidence, should be included within history textbooks. Primary sources such as letters and messages are valuable and non-fictional sources that can play similar roles and goals within producing the same interest value. When discussing something as complex as history which is able to be interpreted a number of ways, it is plausible that messages and important information may be lost if narratives were to be included. Additionally, this could further open up the textbooks to increased bias and embellishment stories.

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:11:34 pm

Although I do see the benefits of keeping textbooks strictly factual as a recounting of history and nothing more I believe it may be useful for students to read narratives in textbooks; this is because narratives make learning and understanding of a subject easier for a student as they can read first or second hand accounts of actual events that happened and place themselves in the story.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:33:10 pm

As we learned throughout our time in class, most of the information in history comes from primary sources such as reports of diary entries which can be in written in a narrative form. I don't necessarily argue with including more of these primary source into the textbook because they have credibility, but at the same time I don't believe that it is a matter of making it fun to read. I believe that the definition of fun varies for different people, but if fun means having more narratives then I am not opposed. I believe that you can learn facts from including narratives, just limit the amount of narratives included.

Gustav Cedergrund

1/14/2020 09:44:39 pm

Textbook in my opinion should be resources with which students are able to learn in ways that will last beyond the test to make the student more educated people in society. To keep this information embedded in students minds, they need to find the information entertaining. Therefore, I think it’s important that textbook creators tailor their books to entertainment while still preserving the truth.

Jake Park-Walters

1/6/2020 09:45:24 am

What effects did interstate highways, national news sources, and television have on small towns in the United States? Were most of the consequences negative or positive?

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 10:03:53 am

All of these connected smaller towns to the rest of the country. Whether this was positive or negative depends heavily on whether the people in the small towns were liberal or conservative. If the town liked being independent, then the roads and media was viewed negatively; if the town wanted to progress technologically, then it would have been viewed positively. The creation of interstates also drastically changed the landscape of America. The consequences were both positive and negative; I could not argue either.

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 10:08:49 am

The "Who Owns History" document appeared to blame teachers a lot for teaching inaccurate history. However, if history cannot fully be determined, why are teachers to blame?

Thien Do

1/6/2020 01:48:29 pm

Teachers can be put to blame because they are the ones that present the information without question. "Who Owns History," also states that many teachers are too afraid to put controversy with what they are teaching students. History is never sure, and teaching it in a way to make it so that students don't ever question it and research it puts them liable for inaccurate history. Teaching history as something sure makes it inaccurate.

Rushil Sudunagunta

1/6/2020 08:45:32 pm

Teachers can be put to blame because they are the ones handing the false information to the students without teaching any way to determine bias or accounting for it. Teachers are not expected to know every single event that occurred and the true way it occurred but rather they should be able to teach students how to better determine what occurred with a set of sources by determining bias and inaccuracies.

Benson Chen

1/10/2020 09:32:36 am

First of all, we can’t know history for 100% certain. But we can derive a picture of what happened in the past beyond reasonable doubt for something. Secondly, most teacher, when blamed, is blamed for either hiding controversies by the author or for contending for a too controversial perspective by the parents.

Manasvi Marthala

1/12/2020 06:16:36 pm

Teachers seem to be blamed because of the emphasis they put on certain areas of history. When teachers are teaching they are able to include their own bias towards the subject and show it in a way that could be misleading. Also they are able to teach it so that it isn't questioned by the students wicne they are in a position where they are more experienced than those learning.

Jennifer Caputo

1/13/2020 08:13:04 pm

I do not believe teachers are to blame because the history presented in textbooks is given to them. The teachers do not have control over what history goes in the books, so cannot be blamed for inaccurate history taught in the classrooms.

Arabella Cai

1/13/2020 09:35:32 pm

Personally speaking, the major reason why teachers are blamed is their dependence on the curriculum standard. As Loewen points out in one of the texts, it is often “safer” for teachers to stick to the curriculum, because they could be fired if angry parents accused them of teaching a controversial interpretation of history. Even if some teachers take risks and teach a more interesting version of history than the textbook provides, the majority of teachers do not because their career incentives encourage them to teach the same biased history, year after year.

Gustav Cedergrund

1/14/2020 09:46:27 pm

Teachers are being blamed because they are the ones that are most immediately connected to the children. When the children relay the information to their parents, of course their teacher is going to be a large part of their sentiments.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:16:23 pm

The textbook laws I read in the document were both productive and realistic as well as understated and under worked. I believe that the revision of textbooks should be done quite frequently because history is always being made affecting all sorts of places and people at a constant rate. In order for the educational system to truly capture history the materials used must be updated frequently.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:17:11 pm

I do not believe that the teacher or the school is at fault for the materials they are teaching because there are statewide requirements and there are statewide regulations on educational material. Because of this the state must held responsible for putting out valuable reliable up to date and unbiased information to ensure the students get a fuller more substantial education. Many parts in textbooks are unnecessary when it comes to history such as memorizing word banks and such which is why I feel more classes like apush, which dives deeper outside of the textbook, are important.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:17:56 pm

I do to some extent agree with the reasons behind the textbook war however i feel i am more inbetween on this event. I do not think censorship should be a big part of the educational system because that prevents from learning the fullest picture possible. I also think that touching on multiple cultures and ethnicities in textbooks is a crucial part of learning. However when it comes to vulgarity and graphics unless absolutely necessary to the curriculum, that information should be A) taken out of textbooks all together or B) made optional by student or guardian choice.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:18:38 pm

How censored should our textbooks be if the events and quotes were historically accurate?

Rushil Sudunagunta

1/6/2020 08:33:00 pm

This determines on the level of the course in which the textbooks are used. At younger ages, more censorship is needed for material that may not be appropriate for kids. I don't think the truth should be twisted or avoided, but gruesome details and facts should be avoided if they are deemed unacceptable for students at a certain age.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:39:07 pm

I don't believe textbooks should be censored. The point of taking a history class is to fully understand pieces of history and if you censor certain documents, students won't be able to full grasp topics in the classroom. I know this is most likely controversial because teachers and parents don't want their students reading explicit content in the classroom. However, that explicit content is a part of history and the goal of history courses is to allow students to understand our history, therefore it's necessary to show the ugly truth of history.

Kara Musteikis

1/10/2020 12:34:43 pm

I think that depending on the age of the kids being taught is how textbooks should be censored. So if elementary school kids are being taught history and like the articles example of teaching Columbus in America I do not believe that they need to read in detail about what terrible things Columbus did to the natives but I do think that they should still learn what happened but not just in as much detail as could be provided in a High School or College textbook. So I think the textbooks should be censored based on age but not to the point where they leave out important facts like how Columbus killed many native Americans when he came to America and elementary/middle schoolers should know that he killed natives but they don't need to know in depth how he killed them but that could be added in college/high school books.

Kara Musteikis

1/10/2020 12:40:25 pm

I think that our textbooks should be censored based on what grade students are in. In the sources we read it gave the example of how Columbus treated native Americans and how violent it was and for some parts in history that are very violent I think they should be censored slightly to where the kids still know what happened but they don't have to learn the in depth details about how Columbus killed native Americans. While the textbooks are censored for kids in elementary school and middle school I think that once kids are in high school and college that the textbooks don't have to be censored so the students can learn our real history.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/12/2020 06:26:27 pm

I believe that our history textbooks should not be censored at all due to the fact that students will eventually learn all the historically accurate parts of history at some point within their academic career. However, I do believe that history textbooks for younger children should be censored to some extent only because of the maturity levels of those children and the maturity needed to understand some content.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:36:59 pm

Textbooks should never be censored. History is history no matter how gruesome it is. Kids should be aware of things that happened in the past. An alternative could be to alter the wording and vocabulary the textbook uses in order to make it more appropriate for each grade level. Kids need to understand that history is messy.

Anisha Harkara

1/13/2020 09:48:07 pm

Textbooks, for the most part, shouldn’t be censored. I understand censorship towards kids, but not towards adolescents and older. It's important to learn about aspects of the past that are not pleasant. I don’t really know what topics you think need censoring, but for the most part, I think that information shouldn’t be censored. I do understand censorship if you are talking about human experimentation, like what the Nazis did in WW2. In cases like those, It makes sense for information to be censored regardless of age. I don’t think we should censor history, just parts that are extremely sensitive.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:19:20 pm

Should the students or parents be allowed to choose what they want to read in the educational system why or why not?

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 08:05:40 pm

I don't think the students would be able to choose, since they don't know the material and could not accurately predict what would be best. Parents could not individually choose for their kids, because all students in the same state (if not school, especially county/school) should learn the same thing, and parent decisions could be heavily biased on where they came from.

Dhruv Joshi

1/6/2020 08:10:03 pm

I agree with Marta, in that students shouldn't really be allowed to choose what they want to read in school. Oftentimes, they're not fully aware of what's the best material for them to learn and what isn't. The parents, however, have the right mindset to make the best decision over what their kids should read, from both experience and their own educational standards. Furthermore, these children are the future generations representing the parents, not the school, so it should be up to the parents to come to their own consensus over what they want their children to read.

Era Joshi

1/11/2020 02:45:12 pm

I believe neither the students nor the parents should be allowed to determine what should be taught in the educational system. Students, no matter what age, won't know the material until after they've been taught it- unless they've learned the information on their own somehow- and if this is the case they won't need to be taught information they already know. All parents have different values and beliefs, and they may want different things to be taught in our educational system based off of those beliefs. This could potentially lead to something like the textbook war we heard about via the podcast. In my opinion, it should be up to professionals who know the most about the subjects we're learning in class to create the textbooks, or at least provide information about what should be able to enter high school textbooks.

Arshia Haq

1/12/2020 03:21:47 pm

I do not believe that students should have a say, because they have not been taught the curriculum yet. It is up to a diverse board who knows what is best for America's future. Parents should also not have a say, because education in the 20th century was very different than what it is right now.

Gustav Cedergrund

1/14/2020 09:50:49 pm

Although I agree with your reasoning, I feel as though you are overlooking a large portion of the functionality of school: good public opinion. Parents need to ‘feel’ involved for them to feel safe with sending their children to a school. Of course in some cases, this involvement will involve the convergence of personal ideologies and the schools mission; however, if parents aren’t involved a lot of schools wouldn’t get the social opinion needed to stay opened.

Manasvi Marthala

1/12/2020 06:21:22 pm

Parents shouldn't be able to choeese what they wan't but have an impact or suggest things that could be done. Giving parents the control on childrens education would make it harder for the schools to decide what to teach since each parent has their own opinion on what should be included and sheltering them from certain information would make it harder for the child to mix in with others in the future or in the real world.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/12/2020 06:40:43 pm

I believe that students and parents shouldn't be allowed to choose what they know in the educational system because the students in our educational system are the same people who will become the politicians of our government and they would need a complete understanding of history to be effective politicians

Will Barbee

1/13/2020 12:43:42 pm

Students should not be allowed to choose what contents or curriculum is added to the textbook since they usually have very limited knowledge about the subjects. Additionally, parents aren't always very fluent in important history either, so it would be smarter to make it a job for teachers and historians.

Alexander Neiberger

1/13/2020 12:46:22 pm

I think that generally accepted facts and information should be taught to all students, but they should be able to opt out of more controversial topics.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:21:19 pm

There is never enough time it seems, to learn about all the important events and people throughout history, what strategies or compromises could be used to create a curriculum that encompasses the most information?

Bryce Hagstrom

1/6/2020 09:00:16 pm

One idea educators could look into is focusing on different certain events each school year allowing for more time to be able to fully understand important moments in history.

Aryaman Bana

1/8/2020 04:45:48 pm

I believe the most effective way to learn about the "important" events in history is to create a national board that chooses the content we learn. Doing so will ensure that events that were most significant in history are omnipresent in all history classes in America.

Will

1/13/2020 12:45:09 pm

As history continues, more and more history will be added to the curriculum. Because of this, it may be important to add extra classes or only focus on the major events. It is continually becoming more difficult to encompass everything that is important, so the best way to tackle it is to split it up or to water it down.

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:50:38 pm

One compromise most history curriculums often take is omitting events that are "less important" in context of the current time period. Events that affected foreign countries moreso than the US don't always make the cut, either. To truly encompass the most information, history courses would have to be much longer.

maddie girolimon

1/6/2020 12:22:26 pm

Do you believe our school text books are free from bias and based on that, do you believe that they are the most accurate and round/full versions of history or any subject of study, if not what is or could be?

Luna Hou

1/6/2020 04:17:58 pm

I don't think it's possible for any source to be completely free from bias, no matter how objective it is meant to be. That being said, I do believe our textbook comes fairly close, making an effort to look at issues from an overall, birds-eye-like view while being careful not to obviously favor one side of an issue over another, and if one wanted to get a general overview of what's happened these last few centuries in America, it would be a good place to start. However, textbooks certainly do not present the fullest version of history they arguably could, nor do I believe any one source could truly, completely fit that bill. If anything, taking this class has taught me that in studying or researching any subject, it is important to look at information from a variety of sources, even those covering seemingly minute details, to ultimately analyze and form my own opinions. There may be no such thing as a perfect textbook, but we can certainly make strides in learning about history to consider many different points of view and ultimately gain a fuller understanding of the subject as a whole.

Rushil Sudunagunta

1/6/2020 08:31:43 pm

No source is free of bias, including school textbooks. I do still believe that they are the most accurate and well rounded versions of history built for the classroom, but it is important to also learn how to determine bias and how it could've influenced the source in ways that may cause misinterpretations or inaccuracies.

Austin Nguyen

1/6/2020 10:36:33 pm

Though textbooks may seem free from bias, they biased in the way that the information presented was chosen by someone who thought it should be included in there, which is biased. There are probably more full versions of history out there, but with the limited time students have to learn about history in school, the textbooks provided are the best choice.

Era Joshi

1/11/2020 02:55:02 pm

I definitely don't think our history textbooks are free from bias. Although many try to teach from all perspectives as possible, quite a few, as we saw in our discussion, try to teach the 'American perspective' and try to teach patriotism- which could lead to leaving out some of the more controversial topics of some events in order to promote the idea that America was in the right. I don't think there is any humanities subject that could be taught without bias, since many primary documents were made with bias in them. I believe the better alternative is to teach as many perspectives as possible in order to allow students to get the best possible picture of a particular topic.

Hadley Seifert

1/11/2020 10:17:05 pm

Although our school textbook, like many others, attempts to present itself as bias free, it still is filled with lots of bias. I believe that while it is accurate, it is not the most accurate source, I don't believe their is a fully accurate textbook or version of history as everyone as their own bias and perspective, so it would be impossible to get a full/round version of history as everyone wants to tell their side of history and make themselves out to be a winner, causing each version of history to be a little different.

Thien Do

1/6/2020 02:12:38 pm

Although most people say history isn't interesting, it's just because history isn't interesting to them. Perhaps it would be more interesting if it was presented in a better format. How would history be interesting to you? In what way? What would you enjoy about history if it was taught in a more controversial way?

Elizabeth Jackson

1/6/2020 08:44:39 pm

I think history could be more interesting if it was told from multiple perspectives in the sense that students should be not learning historical events just from one textbook or one article. I think more evidence based learning, such as looking for information from multiple news articles, textbooks, and other sources give students a deeper understanding on how history is told in different ways.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:23:14 pm

I completely agree with this statement because learning about history from multiple perspectives not only creates knowledge, it also lets students decide what they want their beliefs to be. Right now, all we learn in history is from the American side, not the Spanish, French, Italian, etc. All we know are the goods and bads we did, not what other countries did that didn't involve the US. We should know these things because it will create a generation of greater thinkers.

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 08:45:01 pm

I think it would be more interesting if it was more applied to extremely recent/current events. There is a common phrase: "history repeats itself," but it is commonly looked upon in history class itself.

Kara Musteikis

1/10/2020 12:47:12 pm

I think history would be more interesting if the textbooks didn't just list of facts about history and give more personal accounts for what happened in history from primary sources. This would make textbooks more interesting and would give students the opportunity to make their own conclusion on how they feel about history. If history was taught in a more controversial way I would like to have more discussions about controversial issues and whats going on today which many teachers don't talk about because the topics are controversial and they don't want to offend and students or parents, but talking more about todays events could help students make connections from events in the past to today & help remember what they learned about history instead of just reading facts.

Arshia Haq

1/12/2020 03:24:04 pm

I do believe that history should be taught from multiple standpoints. For instance, how Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, there are dozens of opinions and ideas. A lot of people disagree with the idea that he discovered it, and can lead up to a respectful discussion on multiple ideas.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 01:41:39 pm

The thing I enjoy most about history is how applicable events are to the modern world and how specific choices impact the entire path of history. History would be more interesting to me if it was presented in a different way besides a textbook. A great example of this was Hamilton day when we created a rap song. If we did different activities instead of the same thing each day it would personally keep me more engaged and interested in history.

Luna Hou

1/6/2020 04:22:01 pm

How much power do you believe parents should have over what not only their children but other children read in schools, particularly when it comes to controversial/sensitive topics?

Dhruv Joshi

1/6/2020 08:06:20 pm

I think, over their own kids, parents should have a great power over what they're are allowed to read in schools. Their kids are representing the next generation of their own family, and therefore, it's the job of the parents to regulate their curriculum to make sure they grow up in the best way they themselves see fit. When it comes to other kids, however, parents shouldn't really have any control, as the other kids have their own parents to regulate what they can and can't read.

Morgan Kelley

1/12/2020 02:40:06 pm

I would have to disagree with the statement that parents should be the primary educators and influence what their child is taught in their classrooms. Parents are all susceptible to great bias which can impact the worldview and historical events taught or excluded from students, resulting in a greatly misinformed generation. I beleive that schools and history teachers should have the combined say on what is taught to the students and any supplemental information that parents believe should be included may be taught at home. Events such as the treatment of many minority groups have the possibility to be excluded depending on political views which are objectively vastly important factors in the history of our nation.

Uma Bhat

1/13/2020 08:07:04 am

Continuing off the same trail as Morgan's answer, parents themselves have political views that they're subjecting upon their kid. It's fair that to a certain age parents can censor content that's inappropriate or too gory (so maybe not full context of a situation), but ultimately that's letting parents choose their child's "thoughts"/"viewpoints" as well. If you read Educated, Tara Westover is "continuing her family's legacy" by living by survivalist standards, and her parents choose what they want her to learn, etc. -- just an extreme example, but it goes to show my point.

Nadiya Patel

1/6/2020 09:14:13 pm

I think it is the right of a parent to have control over what information their child is going to come into contact with in school and should be allowed to opt-out of certain lessons if they believe that their child is not ready for a certain sensitive topic. However, like the podcast stated, I think that parents should not be allowed to affect what other students read just because it goes against their personal/religious beliefs. For example, in Wake County, when a teacher is going to teach or show sensitive material in class they normally send home a note that allows parents to make a decision on whether their child is ready for that information to be relayed to them.

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 10:29:11 pm

I think parents should have a say in what their children see but I do not think that they should be able to influence what other children see so maybe permission slips would be the best option

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:52:54 pm

I think that issuing permission slips to parents would be a direct influence on the information their children are allowed to see. It might be better for students to have a conversation with their parents about a history course they plan to take before deciding to register for it if the course contents are really that controversial.

Clare Whittelsey

1/7/2020 08:16:28 pm

I think parents should have some say in what their kid learns but also I believe the parent has a duty to talk with their child about their own values. The child should learn about these topics and controversy so they are more knowledgeable, but the parents should be guiding their children through the way and teaching them about what they believe in.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:25:27 pm

I believe parents should have a say in what their children learn in schools but they do have a bias. All parents want what is best for their child and they want them to do well in school so they will push for topics that their children will enjoy to help them academically. However, this may not help the other students around their child. Therefore, I believe it should be a combination of parents and teachers to decide what students will learn in the classroom.

Annie Pi

1/8/2020 12:41:27 pm

Mike Winger “This is the only world we live in we cannot hide it from our children. We can only determine when they will find it and where they will find it. Let them find it today rather than tomorrow. And let them find it here in our schools rather than in some street corner in New York or in some rice paddy in Vietnam.” I agree with this statement as children will eventually grow up and discover these ideas themselves even if they have always been shielded from them as a child. I believe it is better to expose students to possibly controversial topics in school where they can be challenged to critically think for themselves instead of discovering it later in life and be more vulnerable to misleading or false information.
I also thought about what the children themselves wanted to read; many times adults will find a textbook they think is appropriate but the students find it extremely dull, so I believe student input is greatly important when choosing potential content to teach in schools.

Aryaman Bana

1/8/2020 04:53:25 pm

I don't think that parents should have control over what children read in school, even if it the topics are shrouded by controversy; the values of parents' might not align with the standards of history education, but the standards were chosen in a way such that the children are making the most out of the content learned in the history classroom. Letting parents control what their children read in school would be an injustice to history, as well as to the officials who made the history standards.

Michael Herrera

1/8/2020 08:26:47 pm

I think when it comes to how much power parents have is dependent on the situation they are in. If their child is being home schooled, the parent obviously has more say in what that child is learning, but when it comes to the kids that go to learn in a school, the parent's power is obviously diminished as the teachers are the ones that decide.

Amritha Alaguraj

1/9/2020 12:40:57 pm

I think that parents' amount of control depends on the age of the group of children in question. If a group of children are at a very impressionable young age such as a 5 to 10 year old, then parents should be able to decide what topics they don't want their kids to be exposed to because there are some topics that may be a bit inappropriate considering their age. But if it's a group of children whose ages are 16 and up, for example, then at that point the children should be able to decide whether they want to read about certain topics because at that age, children learn to either expose themselves to certain things or refrain from them. They've come to decide what they agree with and what they want to read and learn more about, so parents should have little control in this case. In summary, parents should have more power early on in childhood and progressively have less and less.

Semeon Petros

1/10/2020 01:24:27 pm

I think parents should have less power over what they're are allowed to read in schools. Their kids need to learn about the world and being coddled by parents to keep them from learning what they think isn't good for them is bad for the kids in the long run.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/12/2020 07:03:09 pm

I believe that parents should have some, but limited amounts of control over what their children decide to learn at school due to the fact that learning about controversial subjects is something that needs to happen regardless of what the parents think and the fact that it builds maturity in these kids.

Jennifer Caputo

1/13/2020 08:19:11 pm

I do not think parents should have a say in what students learn. I believe this because parents think some topics are "controversial" or "sensitive" when they are topics that should be talked about in schools. In the first article, it mentions that people believe the difference between sex and gender should not be talked about, but i believe since it is a very talked about topic today it should be talked about in schools.

Ashlyn Dumaw

1/6/2020 05:45:23 pm

Some argue that textbooks have the ability to shape readers' viewpoints while others say that they don't impact individual thoughts at all. How much do you think that textbooks actually influence the minds and actions of readers? How much are you influenced by what you read in textbooks?

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 09:06:23 pm

I think that textbooks do play a role in persuading readers to side with a certain group over historical issues within certain events, but I don't think that it is the sole factor in determining the actions and minds of readers. I believe that personal experiences and your own cultural background also influences the way in which historical events are viewed.

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 10:27:52 pm

I think that back in the old times they definitely had a big impact due. to the fact that was the way of communication ideas, but now days I don't really believe so because social media has taken over so I think more people become impacted by social media than a physical text book

Leo Cheng

1/7/2020 01:30:06 pm

I think that textbooks definitely influence how we form viewpoints on an issue but I believe that the teacher that contextualizes the information taught in the text book is a lot more influential than the textbook itself. I also think that the internet has changed how we obtain information and for most people textbooks are not their primary source source of information.

Annie Hu

1/7/2020 01:49:53 pm

Although textbooks do contain a lot of the information that we know about history, teachers and personal bias' play a much larger role in our knowledge of history. People can disagree with what they read in textbooks and will choose to believe their own opinions.

John Bass

1/13/2020 01:11:25 pm

I think that the textbooks have large power in influence of thought, as we regard textbooks as official, definitive history. If the textbook says something, you are inclined to believe that. Even subliminally, if a textbook does not mention a topic, you don't think about it, and it is less important in your mind than other topics.

Amritha Alaguraj

1/20/2020 06:14:53 pm

If I'm completely honest, I think its very rare for a person to read a textbook and be inspired or impacted by it since textbooks connotate reading that are boring or uninteresting, when people pick up a textbook, they tend to think that what they're about to read is going to be boring. Not to say that all textbooks are boring and can't inspire somewhere (because I've read a textbook or two that's definitely impacted me), but the common assumption is that they are boring, so people kind of close off their minds to any content in a textbook.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 07:14:48 pm

In the reading "Lies My Teacher Told Me", Loewen discusses the causes for bias within textbook, with economics being a major factor. I agree with the idea that economics play a huge role within our education, as textbook companies are businesses, and thus print flashy, easy to read textbooks to attract consumers. I think this causes some neglect of important historical context within textbooks by focusing more marketing than education.

Cynthia Yan

1/7/2020 11:58:49 am

I think it’s especially frustrating that education doesn’t have enough funding to properly review the textbooks, shown in this text by how the textbook reviewers had to analyze hundreds of pages of textbooks in a single summer, which only resulted in them finding that none of the textbooks were satisfactory. Moreover, as a result of textbook selection being based mostly on marketing, textbook writers find it safest to stick with traditional, accepted versions of American history. I personally believe that the textbook we used is less flawed, likely because it’s open source and didn’t have to be marketed to a state.

Arabella Cai

1/13/2020 09:38:50 pm

I definitely agree with what you were saying. To elaborate more on that, as Loewen points out in this text, textbook companies are basically businesses. Like all successful businesses selling a product, publishing companies need to attract consumers—as a result, they print flashy textbooks that appeal to overworked textbook selection committees because they seem to be easy to read. However, by focusing on the more superficial qualities of the textbook, textbook companies neglect the real, historical “substance” of their books. I think this is a huge problem because as the who owns history document set mentions, textbooks are a tool for us to understand what America is and help us to succeed in college and society in the future. Thus, it is definitely problematic to consider textbooks as a business that can make a huge profit.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 07:36:25 pm

Loewen argues that a reason why textbooks can be dull is due to the design adopted by textbook committees that do not have time to read through all textbooks to determine whether it is fit for the district due to time restrictions, so they often pick easy-read textbooks. I think that if opinions weren't just limited to small committees but rather involving more professors with a large educational background in history, then textbooks would contain more historical information and context.

Logan Phinney

1/7/2020 09:37:23 pm

I agree with you for the most part however the design and physical appearance of the textbooks are also very important. Even if a textbook had the perfect content inside of it, students would not be interested in it if it was a plain black and white chunk of text. I would argue that the designs and graphics of a textbook help to grab readers, especially students, and make them more intrigued to actually read the content in the books.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 07:44:18 pm

In the reading "Who Owns History", the sets of documents revealed the large degree of debates over taking a liberal or conservative view on topics within US History, which causes heavy bias within textbooks. I think that including the perspectives of historical information from both groups is important, as well as ensuring that it is presented in methods that do not attempt to assert agreement with one side over another.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 08:03:36 pm

Within the reading "Who Owns History", it discussed debates over including historical figures from minority ethnic groups within US History education. I believe that it is important to include important figures from different ethnic groups throughout different historical events to provide historical context from all groups involved within a historical event, but it should be accomplished in methods that reduce emotional bias over events throughout history.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 08:14:56 pm

In the podcast "The Great Textbook War", it discusses controversy over school textbooks with introductions to multiculturalism and literature. I do think that students need an access to a diversity of cultures as our society becomes more globalized, as American history and values was largely influenced by ideals of minority groups.

Rushil Sudunagunta

1/6/2020 08:27:54 pm

How do you think a relatively small issue turn so violent? What characteristics turned this into a large conflict and how can measures be taken to prevent this from occurring again?

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 08:52:11 pm

I think that current issues over cultural diversity and freedom have an impact on the degree of violence that occurs from issues such as controversy over textbooks. I think that the fact that there was such controversy over "correct dialects" and ideas of "higher education" also pushed violent outbursts. I think that setting standards as to what can and cannot be allowed within textbooks, as well as what is considered appropriate historical information can help prevent violence from breaking out again.

Shazia Muckram

1/10/2020 11:09:41 pm

I think that this podcast really opened my eyes on how serious the issue was and as to what extent people could go to get what they want and to change the norm. It was shocking to see how schools were destroyed even though nobody was really hurt. Moreover, the fact that a small issue ignited tensions among people and raised to another level was surprising because the problem could have been solved in in other ways. The fact that the neighborhoods were divided just because of this issue really shows how serious the problem was. I think that eliminating bias from textbooks, setting specific standards, and considering including the blemishes of our nation would help prevent violence from occurring again.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/12/2020 07:12:24 pm

I feel like the emphasis on culture and cultural awareness in the 21st century is how this relatively small issue turned so violent.The measures that we can take to prevent this from happening again is to make sure that we completely eliminate bias from school textbooks and make sure teachers do not teach with bias

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 02:24:27 pm

I believe if issues go against and attack a persons faith and beliefs it can culminate into a huge problem. Culture and culture awareness are very close and important issues for everyone which is why it hits so close to home. Due to these factors I believe that a small thing turned into a big issue. We can avoid this from happening by taking into account and accepting different viewpoints and perspectives. Also being unbiased as possible is important.

Austin Nguyen

1/6/2020 08:33:46 pm

Should school curriculums include/should teachers be able to teach any kind of morals, no matter how seemingly objectively "correct" they are? (such as "don't be mean to others")

Dhruv Joshi

1/6/2020 09:03:46 pm

I think to a certain extent it's acceptable. Families usually stick to their own traditions, teaching their future generations what they were taught themselves. These local social norms should be passed down, and often are, as it allows the children to grow up with a sense of how to "properly" behave in society. However, when it comes to extreme opinions such as serious bias/favoritism, I'd say it shouldn't be taught to students.

Elizabeth Jackson

1/6/2020 09:08:52 pm

I think schools should teach kids certain moral values for they may not be taught them at home.It is important that teachers teach the moral values that are needed for the real world. I also think teaching morals comes naturally in certain situations. For example, if a student is bullying another and a teacher finds out, it is natural for the teacher to teach the student moral values like "treating others with kindness".

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 10:26:16 pm

I do not think so, I think that their job is to teach and educate and the morals should be left to the parents because teachers or society could have many different morals than the morals a parent wants to raise a child with

Clare Whittelsey

1/7/2020 08:14:48 pm

I think in some cases they should be discussed because they can provide a deeper meaning and show why people did what they did. Knowing the motivators for historical events is a powerful thing and can expand ones knowledge greatly, so using morals to show how things were done should be taught.

Uma Bhat

1/13/2020 09:57:58 pm

No one individual or entity should be able to prescribe a set curriculum of their choosing, because that is essentially indoctrinating others with their own view (it's like Hitler --> teachers forced to teach certain ideas in a classroom and moving people to adopt his ideologies). Morals and other conclusions and whatnot can be derived from historical interpretations, but that is for the individual to draw out without having any of such predetermined by another force.

Amritha Alaguraj

1/20/2020 06:24:00 pm

I think that they should be able to teach morals but to an extent. If a teacher is teaching students to be respectful, be kind, don't plagiarize and such morals, then I think that's completely fine, but if a teacher is teaching morals that are more opinionated and more of a personal preference, that I think that's when a teacher has to step back and let parents decide whether that's something they want their children to follow.

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 08:38:12 pm

The podcast discusses how those opposed to introducing multiculturalism to US History within textbooks attempt to challenge existing traditional values and authority. To what degree do you think past events throughout history has influenced these opinions, and do you think current historical events regarding cultural diversity influence what information gets put within textbooks?

Nadiya Patel

1/6/2020 09:05:06 pm

I think past events as well as current events have greatly influenced what information gets put into textbooks. Normally, people who are opposed to introducing multiculturalism believe in a one-dimensional version of history and therefore want their personal beliefs about history to be reflected in what is taught to their children and future generations. This is also true when it comes to current events because everyone has a different perspective when it comes to current issues and because of this it is inevitable that everyone wants their version of history to be taught. As America is becoming more and more diverse, it also calls for textbooks to include a greater range of history and include a greater variety of cultures.

Bryce Hagstrom

1/6/2020 08:44:45 pm

When it comes to textbooks I believe we need to figure out a system to reduce bias and show both sides of every historical argument in order to let the students come up with their ideas after seeing the evidence presented.

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 08:47:52 pm

In "Lies my Teacher Told Me," the author emphasizes that the textbooks seem to be manipulated by the upper class. Who do you think manipulates the textbooks?

Tvisha Shete

1/6/2020 08:55:53 pm

I think that large textbook corporations have the power to manipulate the information added within textbooks. Since they are essentially businesses looking to make profit from their products (textbooks), these corporations will design textbooks to make it more appealing to consumers rather than focusing on its educational value.

Morgan Kelley

1/12/2020 02:47:46 pm

I would agree with this statement especially when it comes to those written within American about the history of our nation. Objectively, having a capitalistic based economy results in great competition and arguably (or in theory rather) results in greater innovation and increased quality. Corporations tend to have the strongest hold on what is taught to students through the means of textbooks. As you mentioned, textbooks that highlight ease of use yet a comprehensive understanding of the discussed topics tend to be those purchased by school districts for use. Unfortunately, those books traditionally have tended to been influenced by such bias of the upper class who controls those companies. Those groups then hire a greater number of journalists rather than historians due to wanting to appeal to their desired audience (students), creating a less accurate story of history.

Nadiya Patel

1/6/2020 08:58:47 pm

I agree with the perspective found in "Lies My Teacher Told Me" because normally the upper class has more money and therefore has more power. Because of this they are also given more say when it comes to textbooks and what they want to see in textbooks. In addition, most of the upper class are more respected in society because they normally hold higher-level jobs and due to this they usually take up most of the spots on school boards that decide what textbooks are used and are able to manipulate the textbooks that are used.

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 10:24:52 pm

I do think it is the upperclass who manipulates the textbooks because they are the ones with the power and money that is able to get these types of actions done.

Ashley Cao

1/7/2020 09:38:04 am

i wouldn't classify the people manipulating textbooks as the upper class, but the people i power who write them. the aspect of selling your textbook also has a say in what writers decide to include in their writings, so i do think that textbooks are somewhat manipulated, but not particularly by the upper class, but people in power.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:28:15 pm

I believe people with great power and money and people that back them are able to manipulate textbooks. In today's society, money can buy anything and that's the same in this case. Large corporations with powerful people have the ability to push those who make the textbooks in a certain direction for their personal benefit. Though I believe this is wrong, I am not surprised that this is happening all around us today.

Benson Chen

1/10/2020 09:58:49 am

Even though the upper class is the one technically manipulating the textbooks, what goes in the textbook is controlled by many other groups. First of all, the authors, certainly and obviously, have the most influence on the content of the textbook. Therefore, if the authors are scared to include something because they think it will get less sale, the content of the book will be affected in this way. In that case, the readers and the society are indirectly manipulating the books by accepting certain perspectives and rejecting others.

Logan Siege

1/14/2020 09:05:52 pm

Many textbooks are produced by larger companies, which cater to the biggest states; for example Texas. These states that purchase large quantities of textbooks normally end up creating and controlling the content for the majority of all textbooks.

Elizabeth Jackson

1/6/2020 08:47:58 pm

To what extent does religion impact the way in which history is retold?

Thien Do

1/6/2020 09:40:58 pm

Religion impacts the way in which history is retold because they try to state all the good parts of the story towards their religion. It keeps the good parts of their history while excluding the bad ones. It makes proud people who are proud of their own history, and proud people to spread the religion further.

Ashley Cao

1/7/2020 09:36:05 am

i don't think that religion has that much impact in the way history is told. history is biased in a lot of ways based on what country you're in, what political party you belong to, etc, but i don' think religion is one of them.

Cynthia Yan

1/7/2020 11:45:55 am

Because historically the US has been a predominantly Christian country, Christianity had a strong impact on how history was retold. A notable example is the attempt to limit Thomas Jefferson’s role in the curriculum because he advocated for a separation of church and state, which countered the belief of the politicians that the American government should be based on Christianity (though this example is debated between critics and defenders of the Texas curriculum who disagree whether the change actually took place). Moreover, in the Great Textbook War, the community was against teaching evolution because it contradicted the Bible. While evolution isn’t a history topic, it shows how religion can factor into how other school subjects are taught as well.

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 02:31:46 pm

It significantly affects history because according to the article the US government and its teachings are based off of Christianity. This shows that religion can greatly influence society and the government.

DJ Gill

1/13/2020 08:07:01 pm

Religion, in my opinion, has a major impact on how and why history is retold. If history is being told in a state/country where the majority of the population is Christianity, the history will more than likely be told in a way that does not negatively harm the thinkings of the religion. By doing this, some of the facts and some other details can be left out changing history itself.

javairia qadir

1/13/2020 09:22:41 pm

I personally think religion was a huge part in history that shaped how we are today because of how it divided and brought certain populations together. It would cause many conflicts, but soon people learned to some what accept each other way after the Europeans first came to North America. Now religion isn't as important to people. This shows the many possible outcomes of events such as when the indians were constantly pushed around North america, but still trying to assimilate to other cultures .

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 08:52:05 pm

There is a lot of debate over what textbooks include which traces back to personal beliefs. Do you think modern textbooks are more conservative or liberal? Is there a particular style or brand of textbook that is evidently one or the other? Should textbooks be more conservative or liberal, or is there a way for it to remain completely neutral?

Brandon Jeans

1/7/2020 08:13:55 am

There are definitely textbooks that are more liberal or more conservative. However, I don't think that modern textbooks are more one way or the other, I believe it depends on location so in places like Texas they are more conservative, but in California they are probably more liberal. On if its possible to remain completely neutral, I would say its possible but highly improbable. There is too much influence for outside sources to ever make textbooks perfectly unbiased, this influence comes from everything from the parents and teachers to the politicians and wealthy businessmen. So I would say it is unlikely if not impossible to make unbiased textbooks.

Nadiya Patel

1/6/2020 08:55:33 pm

We spent a great deal of the discussion talking about who should be responsible for creating textbooks. As teachers are the people who are required to teach the material, should they have a greater say in the curriculum and what textbooks are used?

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 09:26:19 pm

I think that they shouldn't really have that much of a say because different teacher have different mindsets so it can end up to kids learning different things based on different opinions of the teachers.

Brandon Jeans

1/7/2020 08:08:17 am

I don't believe that teachers should be responsible for deciding between textbooks, however, I also don't believe that the current system is very good for deciding either. Teachers would present one of the same problems that is with the current system, which is that they would be influenced by the parents in the community. I believe a better system would be to decide on history books nationwide or statewide in a non-partisan situation that way politics and personal beliefs won't censor and remove key information from textbooks.

Ashley Cao

1/7/2020 09:32:34 am

I think that the teachers should have a little bit of say in what goes to the curriculum because they are given the responsibility to teach, so they should be able to partly choose what they are teaching.

Neha Malkar

1/8/2020 12:32:29 pm

I think teachers should have a partial say in what the textbooks should include because they should be educated on that topic and know the objectives of the class. I don't think that they should have ultimate control because there are teachers that are not completely qualified and deciding the content of textbooks should not be in their hand.

Jakub Kreuter

1/11/2020 02:14:44 pm

While the teachers are there to bring the information to t the student it isn't the teachers right to form together pieces of history into something they agree with. History needs to be something tells the truth from different perspectives not a collection of personally vetted facts.

John Bass

1/13/2020 01:14:57 pm

I think that teachers should have a greater role in the creation of textbooks. The adoption committees of the textbooks have no requirements, which works against their intended duty. Their should be requirements on these committees to be at teacher or some kind of researcher or authority.

DJ Gill

1/13/2020 08:18:57 pm

I do not think that teachers should have a greater say in the curriculum because everything will become more biased. The state and/or federal government do there best job to keep all bias aside. Even though it may not seem like it, they are doing the best they can to benefit all parties. This being said, if teachers were handed over a greater say in the curriculum then it would be way more bias than it is right now.

javairia qadir

1/13/2020 09:28:59 pm

I think that the teachers should definitely have a say in the curriculum as well because they would be the ones who would have to present it to their class and help them understand it. They also know better what their students need to learn from the topics and what lessons can be pulled from them so that they carry it one and learn more in depth about them.

Srinidhi Ekkurthi

1/13/2020 09:49:37 pm

I believe that teachers should have a say in the material that goes into the topic and curriculum that they teach. They are the ones who know exactly what’s best for their lesson plan and their students better than anyone else. Giving teachers the opportunity to select their own textbooks and curriculum helps them better teach their students and helps the students understand the subject more when teachers are thoroughly immersed in the curriculum.

Annie Hu

1/6/2020 08:55:42 pm

In the reading "Who Owns History," it is mentioned that the education board of Texas was made up of a bunch of elected officials that had no experience whatsoever in education. Do you believe that education positions should be a political position?

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 09:24:33 pm

I do not think so, I believe that if people are going to make decisions that impact the future of students they should have some kind of knowledge so that the best solution can be found

Brandon Jeans

1/7/2020 08:17:38 am

I agree that the ones deciding on the textbooks should most definitely have some sort of educational or historical background, in order to best decide what is necessary to be in the textbook. However, another important thing is that the ones deciding should really have no influence with politics, because one of the biggest factors of biased we talked about was how people's political views heavily influenced the textbooks. Using non-partisan historians would be best in order to decide on the textbook that has the most objective, factual information.

Kailynn Roberts

1/9/2020 07:45:41 am

i. The school board’s, in my opinion, should be controlled by people who are centralized in the educational profession. Education should only be handled by the ones who truly know and appreciate it. By having a rather random selection of people to over look all of the situations pertaining to their specific school, bias would be present in the choices they make because they have not been trained to view history in respect to the facts while not pushing a personal vendetta such as political views. A educational position should not be used as a political position because by having a singular outlook on certain topics, large amounts of the past will be foregone from history.

Dhruv Joshi

1/6/2020 08:59:44 pm

What do you think angers parents the most about the content in the textbook (non traditional values, inappropriate material, not enough information, etc)?

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 09:23:05 pm

I would have to say the non traditional values because values are something that can become very personal to someone so if you see material that are trying to teach your child values that you disagree with that can spur some anger

Cynthia Yan

1/7/2020 11:31:41 am

I think parents, especially American born ones such as in the Great Textbook War, are most angered by non traditional material which they perceive as inappropriate. For example, when there was an attempt to introduce a curriculum that focused more on secularism and multiculturalism in the 1960s as a reflection of the Civil Rights Movement, the community, which had been used to an American history education focused on Christianity and glorifying the United States, and weren’t used to the new portrayal of history, saw the changes as threatening. Moreover, Lies My Teacher Told Me mentioned that the history curriculum was traditionally structured to make students more compliant and non subversive, meaning that changes could seem threatening to both a parent’s authority over their child’s ideals and their child in general.

Leo Cheng

1/7/2020 01:36:12 pm

I think that the content that contradicted the parent's and religious teachings is what angered the parents the most. In the Great Textbook Wars many of the objections that the parents had to the textbooks were because they taught non-Christian values that the parents did not want influencing their kids

Chuhan Ouyang

1/7/2020 02:59:51 pm

I would believe that the thing that angers the parents the most is that they are losing authorities over their children. Many parents like to completely control what goes in the minds of children, especilly the values that they are exposed in. If the contents of history is against what the parents are taught, the parents would feel out of control. Especially for Christian devoted parents, if the children are not traditionally Christian, the parents would feel offended.

Hadley Seifert

1/11/2020 08:47:00 pm

I believe parents are most angered by non-traditional values in textbooks as it doesn't always align with their beliefs, and if they're trying to teach their child one thing while textbooks are saying another it can cause issues within families and may anger parents. I believe another issue that angers parents is inappropriate material because they want their kids to stay young as long as possible, and if they are exposed to inappropriate material too early parents may get upset.

Carter Yeh

1/13/2020 12:07:53 pm

Parents are angered by non traditional views which they deem inappropriate for their children. And also then by the lack of information on their own "traditional" views. The information they disagree with is what angers them even though this is the history that should be taught.

DJ Gill

1/13/2020 08:41:27 pm

I personally think that non-traditional values angers the parents most when it comes to content in school textbooks. Tradition is passed on from generation from generation and it is sacred and honored by most people. Therefore, if a parents child is taught something that is against the norms of there tradition or if it is just non traditional in general, the parents will surely disagree and be angered by this.

Marta Chojkiewicz

1/6/2020 09:02:26 pm

On lower level history tests, the accuracy of hardcore facts is tested. For example, it is a fact that France, the US, and Great Britain were the allied powers in World War 2. Where does the bias come in, and how limited would our knowledge be if we just stuck to these facts?

Leo Cheng

1/7/2020 01:42:45 pm

I think that history needs to be told as a story rather than as facts. A story allows for people to understand the progression of events and allows for a deeper understanding of a topic. This is where bias would come into play as different stories would be told based on different points of view.

Chuhan Ouyang

1/7/2020 02:53:14 pm

I believe that for different historical events, there are different possibilities of bias. For instance, for the event you mentioned above the fact that the "British," "France," and "Americans" are allied, there was not a large room of bias possible because the countries made a concrete pact. However, for more open events, such as the discussino of civil rights, there is more room for bias. Therefore, treating different history events mean to adopt different strategies when teachers are teaching them.

Benson Chen

1/10/2020 10:07:22 am

Usually the bias comes in when there is either little to no primary sources or when the primary source recorder is affected by the things he writes. As in the case of Allied power in WWII, there is no incentive for either side to lie about the side that UK, US, and France took during the war; both sides agreed on the matter. But in the case of the first shot at Lexington and Concord, first there is little primary source on the matter, and they take contradicting perspective. Second, it is to the benefit to the source recorder to say that the other side fired the first shot.

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 09:21:31 pm

Do you guys believe that a society prevails to its highest when there is questioning of everything or when people just chose to conform to what there is? ( example can be see with kids questioning the history they are being taught)

Elizabeth Jackson

1/9/2020 06:46:32 pm

I think it is important that people have curiosity and want to find answers for themselves. If society just conformed to what there is all the time, there would be no place for new and different ideas which can often lead to positive change.

Christian Lauchengco

1/11/2020 06:10:45 pm

I believe that society is at its highest when their is a mix of conformity and innovation. For example, questioning old ideas can bring about discovery, but people should still conform to aspects of society that are positive, such as being polite or hard working.

Karen Jean

1/6/2020 10:23:59 pm

Do you guys believe that teachers should be able to teach history with other resources instead of a textbook?

Jean Karen

1/6/2020 10:33:42 pm

Textbook a of instead resources other with history teach to able be should teachers that believe guys you do?

Elizabeth Jackson

1/7/2020 07:03:53 pm

Though I think the textbook should be an important starting point or base to understand a historical event, other resources such as primary sources, research papers, news articles, and podcasts should be able to be used as a supplement. This allows students to understand different perspectives on a historical event.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:31:28 pm

I believe that teachers should have the ability to teach history with resources other than textbooks given to them. For example, in our APUSH classes we read many primary documents that don't show up in the textbook. This allows us as students to fully dive into the history we're learning instead of just learning dry facts from the textbook.

Evan Villani

1/10/2020 09:45:14 am

I agree with the comments already on this reply. Primary sources and other documents are super powerful tools used in teaching, and for me they help me better understand the issue from different perspectives. Plus, the textbook doesn't have the time to go into too much detail on a specific subject, so spending an entire class period or two on what the textbook covered in a single header is effective teaching which is only possible with the use of outside documents

Arshia Haq

1/12/2020 03:28:40 pm

I do believe that teachers should be able to use other things, such as documentaries, because that appeals to our generation more. technology is taking over this time, and textbooks are becoming outdated as the years go on.

Arabella Cai

1/13/2020 09:49:25 pm

Personally speaking, I believe it would be effective if teachers can teach history with textbook and use other resources as some additional information. As the three texts discuss, almost every textbook has its own bias because different people form different opinions on events, especially historical events. At the same time, textbooks contain a majority of important basic knowledge that students need to know in order to prepare for the tests and quizzes. Therefore, I would say that one efficient way for teachers to do is to include other additional resources, for example, primary documents and video clips to augment the varieties of sources in order to add more authoritative components into the curriculums.

Jared Daniel

1/7/2020 07:43:07 am

while speaking and listing in the discussion i noticed that a lot of sources on both side presented an sense of bias, how do you avoid bias and is that even possible.

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:43:38 am

It's nearly impossible to be avoid bias, as it comes in so many different forms. Whether you try to or not, anything you write is probably going to have some form of bias in it, because there's always going to be some argument that the other side has you didn't point out, and you may exaggerated some details. A lot of bias may even happen on accident, just some information you missed when doing research, but it's still there.

Brandon Jeans

1/7/2020 08:19:29 am

Who or what do you believe is the biggest factor in influencing the textbooks? There are many people we talked about who influenced the textbook from parents, teachers, politicians, and more out of the many different people who influenced the textbooks the most and created the most bias?

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:41:50 am

The people who influence the textbooks the most would most likely be the parents. As you could tell from the podcast, they raised all hell when they're values and ideals were challenged, even if they were blowing it immensely out of proportion. Politicians would definitely not have the most control over the situation, as they're soul purpose is to try to get everyone on their side, and if the majority of the population is going to one side, they'll be likely to follow suit. As for teachers, we can barely get them the acknowledgment they deserve in today's society, so the chances of them getting it back them is slim to none.

Ashley Cao

1/7/2020 09:19:27 am

should teachers be responsible for teaching purely the curriculum that they are given or should they also teach what they think is important?

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:38:20 am

This is assuming that the curriculum does a good job at explaining history, but I would say teachers should not change what they teach based on what they feel is more important. The major point of history is to give students the facts and allow them to draw their own conclusions and take lessons whichever way they're comfortable with, so that they learn more than just dates and names. History is supposed to be a class that children relate to their own lives and experiences, and allowing a teacher to showcase bias would damage that thought process, instead telling the child what to take away from their lessons.

Chuhan Ouyang

1/7/2020 02:56:49 pm

Although I do believe that teachers should not infuse too much of their personal values into the history curriculum, I do believe that simply following the curriculumn would not be sufficient in history education. In addition to teaching the required contents in the curriculum, I believe that teachers should alsk be responsible of providing primary documents and supporting visual materials. such as videos or paintings, that can stimulate stundents' comprehensive view of the whole history concept.

Elizabeth Jackson

1/7/2020 06:46:41 pm

I think the curriculum that they are given should be focused on mainly but teachers should also have freedom to teach some lesser known history subjects that they/students find interesting by taking small portions to talk about it. It could be beneficial if the students were able to choose what topics they would like to learn more about in order to encourage student engagement when learning history. If history was talk solely using the curriculum, students would miss out on the various other events in history not in the curriculum.

Varun Pillai

1/13/2020 12:42:10 pm

I believe that teachers should be responsible teaching the curriculum. They should not teach their own viewpoints as their ideals and views could be totally wrong. If they teach what they learned, they could carry a bias from their own teachers.

Alexander Neiberger

1/13/2020 12:42:20 pm

I think that they should not be able to teach what they want in addition to the curriculum. This could be potentially bad for the students because the teacher will be biased in what they want to teach. With a standardized curriculum, the teachers bias would not be apparent in his/her teachings.

Cynthia Yan

1/7/2020 11:01:29 am

How does the history curriculum affect society’s values and vice versa? For example, throughout history, textbooks were continuously pushing for American patriotism and presenting the United States as a superior country, which both reflects and reinforces the government and American’s society’s belief. However, I also thought it was interesting that in a more conservative time, a more liberal history curriculum was being pushed and received backlash in the Great Textbook War, while in a more liberal time in the current day, a more conservative curriculum was being pushed in Texas and received backlash.

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:35:18 am

Depending on what children learn in their textbooks is what they think is important when they get into the real world. If all textbooks were to never have so much as a foot note explaining racism and how horrible people were treated because of it, then children will think that it isn't a problem in the world, and will have a harder time recognizing and going against it. With children being so impressionable, they're willing to believe most of what they're told, so if a textbook states that some races are more superior the chance of them believing it is incredibly high. (That's just an example of something that could be excluded in a textbook, but it could happen in so many other ways too.)

Logan Phinney

1/7/2020 09:52:37 pm

I think that society's values effect the history cirriculum more so than vice-versa. The people who write, publish, and edit or regulate textbooks will ultimately try to push what they belive is important while simultaneously removing what they deem irrelevant. A result of this is many students learning to never question the material they learn, not developing the skills to form their own opinions.

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:46:31 am

Based on what we've seen in the letters and the recordings of parents and teachers from the textbook war, what do you think would have been the best way to make everyone happy with the textbooks and rules? In today's standards, how do they compare?

Ashlyn Dumaw

1/7/2020 06:23:50 pm

There is no way to make everyone happy because there are so many differing opinions. Because the textbook corporations are generally private businesses and strive to achieve the greatest profit, they try to appease their largest audience but also not upset smaller audiences. They approach this issue by including a very general view of history along with smaller details to pacify other groups; for example, our textbook has body text about mostly white and traditionally represented leaders to appeal to their larger audience and also short anecdotal sections about leaders of color to appeal to minority groups. In this way, textbook corporations already attempt to please as many as possible. Ultimately, there is no way to make everyone happy. The reality is that companies will continue to appeal to larger and more traditionally represented audiences in order to make the most money in our capitalist economy.

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:48:58 am

In the podcast, they talked about how instead of the textbooks given to them, parents would teach their kids history from the Bible. If they had continued to actually teach history from the Bible, what do you think the overall outcome would have been? Would they have learned any actual American or World history, and what would that have done?

Kailynn Roberts

1/9/2020 07:46:33 am

i. Considering that the bible is a religious text from hundreds of thousands of years ago, there will be no mention of American history but maybe some brief mention of World history. The only occurrence where American history would be covered would be if the parents connected their faith to the patriotism of their country and the feats America has gone through. World history would be given in the very old times that would be in context of the time periods covered in the bible. Focus would be given to the Middle East’s past in relation to its religious past. I think the overall outcome would be a very religiously centered view of history, which is largely correct considering the significance of religion throughout history, but a certain bias would be placed on all the topics.

Elizabeth Jackson

1/9/2020 06:37:13 pm

If they had continued to teach history from the Bible, the kids would miss out on many parts of American and World history that are not mentioned in the Bible. They would be limited to learn only a select amount of historical events, and would have little insight on other historical point of views.

Taralyn Neri

1/7/2020 11:50:34 am

From the readings and recordings we've seen, there are very few first hand accounts from the students who were actually going to be reading and using the textbook. How do you think they truly felt about it?

Yusuf Zayan

1/9/2020 09:10:22 pm

I think that's a really good point that the sources should have sought out the opinion of the students were in the midst of this crisis. However, I believe that the opinion of the child would just be a mirror of the opinion of their parent. So if their parents thought that textbooks should be censored and monitored, they would also most likely think that. And if their parents thought that textbooks should include all the information, then they would also think that.

Jakub Kreuter

1/11/2020 01:22:50 pm

I think many of these children had grown up in a deeply religious community and to many it was important to them. Parents play a large role in shaping their children and without a doubt many of the children received their point of views on subjects like these from what their parents believed. Saying that children will always grow up and from different ideas from their parents as we see in the generational secularization of America. We can't really know what kids though about it.

Leo Cheng

1/7/2020 01:47:03 pm

Do you think that curriculums should stay true to the textbooks given or should teachers be able to voice their own views of the issues that are taught. If teachers strayed from the textbook how would this affect the consistency of education throughout a country

Annie Hu

1/7/2020 01:56:13 pm

I think that teachers should be allowed more control over the curriculum because they have a better understanding of their subject and how it should be taught. After all teachers are educated in education while most of the time, textbook curriculum writers do not. However I think that the consistency of education will not change that much because all teachers have to be educated in order to teach, so there should already be a standard for teachers.

Ashlyn Dumaw

1/7/2020 02:05:27 pm

Curriculums should simply establish guidelines for teachers to follow and compose the framework of the course. In my personal experience, classes have been more engaging when teachers put their own personal spins on material. Students become less interested and therefore perform worse academically if teachers are forced to stick to a strict course guideline. If they are allowed some level of freedom regarding the material, students in different areas still learn the same general information but with unique modifications based on the area that they live in.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:35:44 pm

I believe that there must be a healthy balance between both. It shouldn't be solely based on the opinions of teachers because that would distract students from the history itself which would then not give the course credit if all students learn is what their teachers believe. This would also lead to difference teachings of the same history around classrooms. Different opinions give different sides of stories that may leave out important information that student may need to know to fully understand a concept.

Crystal Gayle

1/13/2020 07:48:40 pm

I think that teachers should be able to stray away from the textbooks but not voice their own opinions on topics. Instead the topics should be presented in a neutral way using primary sources to show the different viewpoints of event so that students are not swayed to only believe one perspective of the situation.

Chuhan Ouyang

1/7/2020 02:18:06 pm

Regarding the Textbook war of Virgnia, I was personally befuddled between the connection between multi-culturalism and sexual vulgarity. Therefore, do you think that it is the racism, as a backlash to the Civil RIghts Movement in the 1960s, that lies at the essence of the textbook war? Furthermore, about the textbook war, why was the parents, as opposed to students who actually read textbooks, so caught up in the conflict

Elizabeth Jackson

1/9/2020 06:33:50 pm

I think the parents were so caught up in the conflict because when they found out that their children were learning ideas that contradicted their views, they were scared they would adopt or agree with, in their parents' point of view, these "bad" ideas. The parents went to extremes to stop this from happening.

Clare Whittelsey

1/7/2020 08:11:28 pm

Do you believe history should be taught the same to everyone, or should it be changed to cater to certain groups? If you think it should be skewed and changed, how should those changes be made?

Logan Phinney

1/7/2020 10:11:40 pm

I believe that the U.S. should have uniform standards across all schools. This ensures that every student gets the same education as others across the nation. Making one board with members from all states would ensure that the textbooks, and standards would be the most fair across all areas.

Hayley White

1/8/2020 09:31:51 am

I think that ideally history should be taught the same to everyone, but in reality, people's ethnicity, race, cultural backgrounds, or even just people's beliefs will always get in the way. The country should lean towards a more united school board in order to ensure more unity in education across the United States. The historical content topics that will be taught to students should be the same across the country, but with different teachers teaching all the students, the information will never be taught exactly the same way.

Era Joshi

1/11/2020 02:58:15 pm

I believe history should be taught the same way to everyone, with as many perspectives as possible. This is the best way to reduce the amount of bias towards one group, because all the viewpoints are made a mention of.

Joey Caputo

1/12/2020 09:12:57 pm

I feel that history should be taught the same everywhere. Unfortunately that is an unrealistic wish. Everyone has their own experiences and backgrounds whether its cultural, religious or country related, everyone will have their beliefs alongside what the country allows.

Shubhangi Patel

1/7/2020 08:49:10 pm

How do you think the histories of the territories of California and Texas have shaped the way their board of education views what should and should not be included in textbooks?

Jakub Kreuter

1/11/2020 01:06:44 pm

It definitely does, Both have a history of fighting for their independence and fighting to keep the rights they provided their citizens with before and after they joined the United states. The many mexican catholics in these states fought against discrimination by many christian groups and that is reflected in the religious zeal over textbooks.

Lauren Humphlett

1/7/2020 09:32:12 pm

To what extent should teachers have the ability to use other resources other than what's provided for them by the school system, such as a class textbook?

Annie Hu

1/8/2020 07:44:46 am

I think that teachers should be allowed the option of teaching from other resources besides the textbook. That way at least they can choose whether or not to use other sources and they can be provided to all teachers. Then those sources and a greater deal of information will be be standardized access.

Hayley White

1/8/2020 09:28:51 am

I think that the school board should hire teachers to use their prior knowledge and their research capabilities to formulate other resources for their classes to use besides textbooks. Teachers know that textbooks aren't the only or only correct source of information, so they have to be willing to do outside research and findings of more sources for their students to learn from. Teachers should have the ability to use any resources they feel necessary to teach the content properly.

Neha Malkar

1/8/2020 12:24:47 pm

I think teachers should be highly qualified and well educated on the topic. With that being said, they should be able to distinguish a good resource for another. If textbooks are providing a biased perspective, teachers should be allowed to find other resources to show the other point of view. I think students should be taught all the points of view of an event and not just the one in the textbook.

Soliha Norbekova

1/9/2020 03:49:10 pm

I think teachers should be able to use any resource and not just the resources provided by the school system. I agree with Ms. Malkar that as long as the teacher knows how to distinguish a good source from a bad one, then teachers should be able to incorporate any source into their discussion. Although bias cannot be fully eliminated, exposing the students to all perspectives of the situation will help to eliminate as much bias as possible. So, the more resources that are incorporated into a discussion, the more accurate the information will be and the students will be able to understand the context better.

Shubhangi Patel

1/9/2020 05:43:07 pm

I agree with Soliha in that teachers should be free to use whatever resources they wish to support their classroom as a supplement to the textbook. This, as implemented by the teacher, is used to buttress the child's learning and touch on specifics that are not covered in the textbook to cover more parts of history. I do not think that the teacher should be solely limited to the textbook provided by the state.

Hannah Savariyar

1/10/2020 08:10:01 am

I believe that school boards should have a system when having to hire teachers that are educated in their subject and should be able to expand farther than the curriculum, so that the students are able to understand the information that is to be taught. This will allow them to have the choice to use the resources provided or expand to other resources to teach their students the information they wish to do. I believe also that the school board should have multiple resources that will help the teacher when creating their lessons that will be helpful.

Ryan Xiao

1/13/2020 12:27:10 am

I feel that teachers should have the freedom to choose how they want to teach a class and what resources to use. A curriculum can be provided and the teacher can use whatever they find to teach the curriculum. To some extent, also, the students should also have some input on how the class should be taught as different students may have very different ways of learning. For example, one student may learn better through primary sources and textbooks while others may learn better from lectures or station activities. There should be a set base curriculum for a class and a teacher should have some freedom to teach the class how they want with some student input.

Ryan Xiao

1/7/2020 10:08:20 pm

To what extent can this textbook conflict be seen in other areas today where the the split in political, religious, or other opinion causes massive divide and controversy in other areas?

Hayley White

1/8/2020 09:25:10 am

I think that this type of conflict can be seen in almost every aspect of life today. It is very common today for people to have strong and varying opinions that cause political, religious, and economic strife and division. Overall, this type of content is very significant in world issues in today's day and age.

Logan Phinney

1/7/2020 10:17:57 pm

Do you belive that teaching "America is the greatest country in the world" is a good way to teach history? Or do you belive that we actively teach the mistakes that we have made as a country?

Taralyn Neri

1/8/2020 08:14:29 am

We definitely can't teach the upcoming generations that America is the greatest country in the world, because that would mean we either cover up all the mistakes we have made in the past, or we don't treat them as genuine problems. This could mean two things- the new generations wouldn't have the chance of learning from previous mistakes and history is destined to repeat itself, or things that happened in the past such as racism and sexism and homophobia aren't seen as big deals, and we raise generations upon generations of intolerant children.

Annie Pi

1/8/2020 12:21:40 pm

“Various Texas state laws concerning education correctly call for a teaching emphasis on patriotism, citizenship, and the free-enterprise system. Fulfilling these educational mandates in the State of Texas will require the students to learn why America is the greatest country in the world, and why they should be proud to be an American” I thought this passage was interesting as it uses vague “various texas state laws” to justify teaching children that the country they live in is superior to other cultures. I feel like blind patriotism should not be taught. Rather, both the good things and the bad things that have occurred and how we can learn from our mistakes to create a better future.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 01:05:11 pm

I think teaching the mistakes we made as a nation will only strengthen our country's future. Trying to hide past mistakes and overlook them only allow room in the future for those mistakes to be made again. We have an obligation to teach the whole truth not just the sections of it that we like or that put the US in good light. I don't think the "America is the greatest" is a productive way of teaching because it only creates more international separation in my opinion when we should be looking to come together as a whole across the globe not just in the US where we struggle with a sense of unity already.

Logan Phinney link

1/7/2020 10:30:05 pm

In your opinion, who owns history? Is it the government bodies regulating which textbooks get approved and which don’t? Is it the writers of the textbooks themselves? Is it the teachers who teach the textbooks?

Taralyn Neri

1/8/2020 10:06:19 am

History shouldn't really be owned by anyone. It should be a collective decision made for the future of children in up-coming decades. History should be taught by giving the students the facts as to what happened and allowing children to draw their own conclusions from what they were taught. If you allow a certain group of people to dictate what children are taught in schools, then you're bound to miss information that could have ultimately been immensely beneficial.

Liz Aman

1/10/2020 12:32:05 pm

Although history should not be owned by anyone, that is not the reality. Most historians are white men, which contributes to the lack of representation of minority groups in history textbooks. However, these minority groups played a significant role in shaping our country and continue to do so to this day. In the Loewen reading, the author states, "who controls the present controls the past." This emphasizes that groups with more political power and status typically control how history is taught.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 12:58:48 pm

I think it is the students. We decide what it is we are going to believe. Just because a textbook says one thing doesn't mean we have to take it for the one and only truth. We can create our own version of history by doing our own research and looking at each situation from multiple angles. Just like with anything each person holds the key to their educational experience, and depending on how deep they wish to take their knowledge of certain subjects is up to them. Especially with the technology we have today, there is no reason we can't look deeper into the things we learn in school.

joey Caputo

1/12/2020 09:16:02 pm

I feel that it is a mix of everything you listed. They all have an impact on what is in the books and what is taught to kids. Although the writers include stuff in books, the government can approve/disapprove what is actually taught in the curriculum and what books will/will not be used. Same for teachers, they can give certain sections of books to students as a resource and teach according to what their curriculum says. Factor has their restrictions and own viewpoints that they consider history.

Hayley White

1/8/2020 09:21:42 am

In retaliation to the textbooks teaching against their personal viewpoints, parents acted out and threw rocks and such at school buses to protest against the school board. Do you think that those parents opposing the textbooks had justifiable reasons to act violently or do you think they acted too extremely?

Taralyn Neri

1/8/2020 10:08:26 am

There will never be a good enough reason to justify acting violently towards a school. There will always be better options that could get your point across just as easily without inflicting damage on property that would need money to be replaced and putting other people's lives (especially in this case when all they're trying to do is let children learn history) in jeopardy.

Kara Musteikis

1/9/2020 12:44:18 pm

I do not think that the parents that opposed the textbooks had justifiable reasons to act violently against the textbooks because while they can disagree with what textbooks that are being used and they can take their children out of the school, they shouldn't be allowed to impose their views on what they don't want their kids to learn onto other parents kids. So I do think that the parents were too violent because they are also endangering other kids as well by throwing rocks at the school buses just to try and get kids that aren't theirs to stop going to school.

Shubhangi Patel

1/9/2020 05:48:15 pm

It could be understood why the parents were so upset with what was included in the textbooks, but their actions were too extreme for the situation, and could have proved less effective in the long run. It made sense for them to be angry, but calmly discussing the matter may have proved easier for the school board and the parents to compromise.

Hannah Savariyar

1/10/2020 08:29:36 am

I believe that the parents have the right to have their opinion towards the textbook they allow their children to use, but I don't believe that violence towards the school board was not justifiable. In this situation, parents should have handled this in a better and more peaceful way. If parents have a serious problem with the school board, they should take their kids out of the school or express their thoughts through writing to their school boards to complain and have suggestions to improve their way of teaching.

Semeon Petros

1/10/2020 01:27:47 pm

I don't believe that people should be allowed to remove specific quotes said by historical figures from textbooks just because they don't align with their beliefs. History is meant to be kept as it is and because you don't like it doesn't mean you can just take it out of the textbook.

Ryan Xiao

1/13/2020 12:32:17 am

The parents were not justified in acting violently to protest the books as they were trying to change others' opinions on the topic. It is ok for a parent to want to control what their own child is exposed to in school but it is too far when the parent is stating the fact that other people should also shield their children from certain information when in reality, parents should just worry about their own kids and not try and control what other kids learn as well. Each parent should just be concerned with parenting their own children and not try and get involved with other people's children.

Annie PI

1/8/2020 12:19:57 pm

Do you believe showing graphic images will expose students to better understand the severity and reality of some events and overall improve their understanding of history?

Soiha Norbekova

1/8/2020 12:37:33 pm

In my opinion it would depend on the grade level of the students. If we were talking about elementary and middle school students then I would disagree with the fact that students should be deliberately exposed to the graphic content. However, it can be argued that students are already exposed to those types of content. Many kids, nowadays, are exposed to several different types of content than what we were exposed to as kids, but deliberately introducing the graphic images into the curriculum and taking time to go over the images would be questionable. On the other hand, if the students were high school students then I would agree that students should be exposed to the graphic content in order to gather a better understanding and the reality of the situation. This would provide the students with more accurate information about the specific events, and to argue that these images would be too graphic for high schoolers would be an understatement as they are already exposed to such graphic content.

Soliha Norbekova

1/8/2020 08:22:49 pm

*In the second sentence, I meant to say agree not disagree.

Ashlyn Dumaw

1/8/2020 12:37:37 pm

I think that exposing students to some of the more graphic aspects of history is important and essential, but only at the appropriate age. Like we talked about in our discussion, younger kids could be damaged by these images and lose patriotism. However, these images could show a more honest and less censored version of history to older students, like high school kids. In my personal experience, being able to see or hear of the more gruesome aspects of history in this APUSH class has let me make more informed and encompassing conclusions about historical events.

Kailynn Roberts

1/9/2020 07:47:14 am

i. Having graphic images and stories should be monitored to the age group they are targeting. For some topics, the words used to describe it may be enough for the students to understand the horrors that have occurred in the past. Some of history is also truly full of horrors, which can be too much to even hear about. Graphic images of the past are only necessary when words are not enough. The application of images to the teaching curriculum should be given specific consideration to the severity of the topic.

Hannah Savariyar

1/10/2020 08:39:51 am

Graphic images should be exposed to students to better understand the severity, but is controlled by the age. In my opinion, I think that we should not expose these pictures to elementary schoolers because it will cause them to see their country in a negative way and will not like their country from a young age.This will cause them to lose patriotism towards the America. I also believe that showing graphic pictures will also have a better understanding of what truly happened. Sometimes when just reading through notes, we will not be able to know what people went through.

Annabelle Chang

1/11/2020 08:10:11 pm

I doubt showing young children graphic images will do anything for their understanding. For older students, such as high schoolers, showing more graphic images might be fine. It's one thing to see and another thing to know, but it really depends on the age and maturity of the students.

Anushka Vaidya

1/13/2020 09:40:11 pm

I agree with this statement. While graphic images would be important to truly understand some historical events, they should be kept from younger children. I also agree that older students should be able to handle the images and could learn from them.

Soliha Norbekova

1/8/2020 12:25:50 pm

To what extent do you think individuals who edit these textbooks are influenced by money or influenced by morality?

Neha Malkar

1/8/2020 12:28:55 pm

I think it depends on the person but I think people who edit these textbooks are influenced by money because the education system has turned into a big business. There are so many companies that are looking to profit off of textbooks and testing. Personally, I think that people who edit these textbooks should have morals and include just the facts.

Shubhangi Patel

1/9/2020 06:05:53 pm

More than money or morality, I think that the editors are more guided by indifference. The fact that they don't personally connect to the textbooks and providing the right education is the reason that they so easily cut information from the textbook. I believe that if they had a personal connection to history or education that they would not be as inclined to cut information and censor history from textbooks.

Elizabeth Jackson

1/9/2020 06:20:25 pm

I think the individuals who edit these textbooks are influenced more by money because they need to edit the textbooks in a way that won't cause discontent to those who are buying it. For example, if a textbook is made to appeal a certain audience, editors must make sure that the information presented in the textbooks aligns with the general beliefs of the audience. If the information contradicts the primary audience's belief, conflict may arise and people of the intended audience may not want to buy the book, resulting in a loss of money.

Siyona Shah

1/10/2020 11:40:37 am

I think individuals who edit these textbooks are more influenced by money because making textbooks is a "business" and businesses are concerned with making profits.

“The books that are altered to fit the standards become the bestselling books, and therefore within the next two years they’ll end up in the classrooms.”

In the Who Owns History Document Set, it describes how textbooks are just made to fit the standards instead of the reason of morality.

Neha Malkar

1/8/2020 12:31:02 pm

Should people be allowed to remove specific quotes said by historical figures from textbooks because they don't align with their beliefs?

Seokhee Kim

1/8/2020 01:00:12 pm

Aryaman Bana

1/8/2020 04:43:07 pm

People should not be allowed to remove quotes that don't align with their beliefs, because doing so is falsifying history as we know it. Doing so will essentially make history classes almost dystopian, with students not being able to learn what was truly said by whom in history, shielded from truth.

Shazia Muckram

1/10/2020 10:20:38 pm

No, authors should not be allowed to remove specific quotes said by historical figures from textbooks because doing so suggests that writers selectively omit blemishes, making certain historical figures sympathetic to as many people as possible. By eliminating the flaws to present the nation's patriots in ways that would honor them is like teaching students what is ideal, instead of teaching them what is real. Moreover, by not presenting the flaws in a historical figure keeps students in "intellectual immaturity," who would eventually end up with no true role models to look up to.

Anushka Vaidya

1/13/2020 09:27:37 pm

Not only will students be mislead to believe history is somewhat ideal, but removing specific quotes adds bias to textbooks, and can twist the actual events and/or outcomes described in the textbooks.

Aryaman Bana

1/8/2020 04:40:18 pm

Should there be one standard of education for the entire country, or is it okay to vary from place to place based on regional differences? What are the consequences of both?

Megan Gerlach

1/9/2020 10:48:55 am

I believe that the standard of education, or what is included in certain textbooks/curriculum, should vary from place to place as each region has their own history. By varying the information provided to each region, students would be able to connect to history more and possibly enjoy it more. The consequences of including different information for different regions could shape student interpretations of historical topics as they could lean to more conservative views, etc. based on where they are located.

Allison Charney

1/10/2020 11:43:28 am

I think that the standard education should definitely vary by region because, using history as an example, it is important to know the history of where you live because it helps you appreciate the area in which you reside. The only drawback to this is that across the country students are learning vastly different topics throughout the different parts of the country.

Michael Herrera

1/8/2020 07:42:21 pm

Do you think politicians should decide what we're learning or should our teachers decide for us and should they be able to remove any content that they find to controversial?

Megan Gerlach

1/9/2020 10:42:03 am

I definitely don't believe that politicians have a place in deciding what information should or should not be included in textbooks because I think that would just end in them being fueled by bias and influenced by the overall viewpoints of their party. Because of this, I do believe that teachers and/or historians should be in charge of what information is included in textbooks because they are knowledgeable about the historical information and would most likely not be as fueled by bias and political motives.

Joey Caputo

1/12/2020 09:19:07 pm

I believe that it should be a mix of both. As we know from past experiences, it is impossible to please both sides without causing a new discrepancy that has to be attended to. Controversy is also something that should be determined by schools in my opinion. In certain areas some may think nothing of a topic but in others they may think it is the worst thing in the world.

Kailynn Roberts

1/9/2020 07:18:21 am

d. In the podcast there was a question that asked, “What is the role of parents in their children’s education?” Great emphasis was made during the podcast that the parents were not allowing their children to even gain the information to see if they agreed with their parents or not. Why do you think the parents were so fearful of their children coming to a view point that opposed their own, even though the parents perceived their views as the only correct understanding?

Megan Gerlach

1/9/2020 10:36:30 am

As you said, a lot of the parents believed that their viewpoints were correct. Because of this, I think many of them were fearful of having their children succumb to opposing viewpoints that they, and their society, believed was wrong. For instance, this argument about the textbooks seemed to stem primarily from conservative religious ideas, as many people disagreed with some of the information textbooks wanted to include as it opposed their religious views. Because of this, many parents were most likely afraid that their children would stray from the "proper" ideas and views of their religion.

jessica xia

1/10/2020 07:39:17 am

I think that because they think their views as correct, they are afraid their children will form a different opinion. I think it has something to do with the fact that they're older so they have the mindset that younger people, especially their own children should agree with whatever they think.

Joey Schifano

1/9/2020 09:16:36 am

I was a little confused about the West Virgina podcast. I understand where the protestors were coming from because they were concerned about textbooks opposing their relgious beliefs. However I dont understand why they were trying to censor their children from specific information

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:57:06 am

The censoring may have come from a fear of the children growing up to accept or even adopt a different opinion on either their own religious beliefs or different ones. With how impressionable children can be, it wouldn't take much information to change their
religious bias and beliefs.

Megan Gerlach

1/9/2020 10:30:44 am

What are your opinions about the quote from the article “Lies My Teacher Told Me” that states that the dominant/upper class monitor the information presented in textbooks in an attempt to create “reliable” and ignorant people to prevent subordinate citizens from viewing social inequality critically?

Yusuf Zayan

1/9/2020 09:06:51 pm

I think that the quote from the article is true and brings up really good points. People with power will always try to stay in power. This is a prime example of that. People who controlled the textbooks realized that textbooks have large influences on students. This presented them a way to control what the views of the lower and middle class were.

Kara Musteikis

1/9/2020 12:32:06 pm

What do you think that parents should be allowed to control about what their kids learn? Do you think that parents even have the right to change what their kids learn let alone other kids? What situations do you believe that parents should be able to change what their kids learn?

Soliha Norbekova

1/9/2020 04:05:32 pm

I believe that parents should be allowed to control what their kids learn and what their kids are exposed to, however, I believe that parents should not be allowed to control what other kids learn. Parents would always want what's best for their children and they have had more years of experience, in education and life in general. Children have not yet fully developed the correct mindset to be able to choose what they would like to learn. On the other hand, parents should not choose what other children learn as many people have different outlooks on certain situations. So, one parent's morality might not align with another parent's morality.

Jane Cho

1/10/2020 02:00:11 am

I believe that parents should be allowed to control what their kids learn but not have total control. I think they can voice out their opinion on what the kids learn in general but I do not think that they should control everything that they learn. Some topics that they learn in school might be necessary and unavoidable to learn. I do not believe that parents should control what other kids learn because there are many different opinions and viewpoints on the topic and one parent's beliefs may be different than a different parent's beliefs and thoughts. If what the kids are learning goes against their own beliefs parents can ask the teacher and voice out their thoughts on it and what they can do if they don't want their child to learn it.

jessica xia

1/10/2020 07:37:00 am

I personally believe parents should not be allowed to control what their kids learn. This will allow their kids to form their own opinion, and they should be ok with that even if their kid's opinion is different from their own.

Allison Charney

1/10/2020 11:40:48 am

I think that parents have a right to control what their kids learn, but only to a certain extent. In their own home parents should be allowed to teach their children what they want them to learn aka things like manners and basic life skills. Outside of their home parents do not have the right to dictate what their child learns in school. Most schools operate under the state’s curriculum and parents should not be able to control that.

Mackenzie Adams

1/9/2020 12:33:26 pm

The idea of morality vs. money was very prevalent in the seminar. Which do you think has more influence over textbook curriculum and education: morality or money?

Yusuf Zayan

1/9/2020 09:18:05 pm

I think money definitely has more influence over texbooks. As stated in the first source, textbook makers would cater to the needs of states who bought a lot of textbooks because they would bring in the most money. Just think about it, why do textbook makers decided to make textbooks? The whole purpose is just to make money. I do think that morality does play a part, but not nearly as much as money.

jessica xia

1/10/2020 07:35:30 am

i think money, because textbook manufacturers and publishers are more focused on earning a profit, which is part of the reason why so many textbooks leave out historical events.

Allison Charney

1/10/2020 11:24:11 am

I believe that money has a much larger influence over morality in the textbook decisions. Most government members today are motivated by trying to make themselves look better instead of what’s best for the community.

Annabelle Chang

1/11/2020 07:21:02 pm

In the end, people need to make money. All industries exist to make profit and if one can't do that, then that industry won't survive. Morality may be the goal for some publishers, but most will likely be more focused on turning a profit.

Yusuf Zayan

1/9/2020 07:58:02 pm

During the discussion, many options were brought up to try to solve the issue of who can and what can people regulate in textbooks. One solution brought up was to have any changes to textbooks be approved on a federal level. Do you think that this is a viable solution? And what issues do you think could arise from this if any?

Evan Villani

1/10/2020 09:56:24 am

The idea of federal approval of changes of curriculum is an interesting. First off, this would require a written set of standards that have also been approved. Who would write this? How would the approval system make sure it is a balanced standard? This could be a viable solution, and is similar to having a national curriculum with some wiggle room for individual states. I think this idea has merit as long as there are experts and historians involved in this process

Sharayu Gugnani

1/9/2020 08:50:53 pm

After all of this reading, what type of education would you want for your children? Do you think this answer might change 20 years from now?

Evan Villani

1/10/2020 09:36:55 am

I've thought about this a lot, and I think that the best thing school is for is learning how to talk and relate to people. To help my children reach their own conclusions, I want to teach them and talk to them about having open minds but also not believing everything in school to be regarded as fact. I think with a stable home life and caring parents, my kids can get the most out of school. As long as they're happy and well well situated, I think they can overcome the challenges of any education system

Sprihaa Kolanukuduru

1/12/2020 11:56:21 am

I’d definitely want there to be complexity in what they read. I don’t think it’s fair to any of them if there is only one side of the information presented. I think there needs to be multi faceted analysis included in textbooks

Logan Siege

1/14/2020 08:58:15 pm

I wish that my children receive an education that encompasses the good and bad of our nation, hopefully without much connotation or bias. In 20 years I hope to see more objective history, although it might be impossible to reach complete objectiveness.

Jane Cho

1/10/2020 01:42:09 am

In the podcast it said that the winner of the textbook war was not clear since both sides claim to have won the war. Who do you think won the textbook war and why?

Daniel Mariano

1/10/2020 09:33:58 am

Even though it talks about how both sides claim to have won the "war" I dont think any of them one in regards to how rough it got due to that issue.

jessica xia

1/10/2020 07:33:54 am

how do you think what gets put in textbooks should be decided?

Liz Aman

1/10/2020 12:15:00 pm

I think that historians and history teachers should determine the content that is found in history textbooks. These individuals are the most knowledgeable about the topic and are able to determine what content is appropriate to include in the textbooks. On the other hand, politicians should not have a say in what is taught in history courses because their decisions are heavily influenced by their individual bias and politics. Additionally, parents should not have the authority to determine what is included in textbooks in order to have greater control over their child's education.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 12:55:04 pm

I think the system we have now is fine, I think when it comes to the stuff excluded from textbooks it's up to students to take the next step and look into history for themselves. They shouldn't rely on someone else's interpretation of history as the end all be all. Students must do their own research and formulate their own opinions using the textbooks and the information inside them as a guide. But the way we create our textbooks now is perfectly fine as long as they are looked at as a guide not as the final word.

Liz Aman

1/10/2020 08:35:49 am

The article "Who Owns History" discussed the importance of teaching history through multiple perspectives. This would require textbooks to put less concern on the opinions of students and parents,and focus on telling an accurate representation of history. It is also important for history teachers to accept opposing interpretations of history and encourage debate in the classroom in order to ensure that our country continues to grow from its past.
What controversial issues do you think current textbooks avoid? If new textbooks were introduced that addressed these issues, would their be backlash from students, teachers, and parents.

Hannah Savariyar

1/10/2020 08:41:11 am

In many of our previous classes, we have just trusted the teachers teaching of the lesson, what is one way our history classes can be changed in order to invite other perspectives of history into the lesson?

Evan Villani

1/10/2020 09:23:04 am

In class we talked about how online databases could be optimized to reduce costs of textbooks and make them easily changeable for different state curriculums. We also discussed the idea of a Nationwide curriculum that included a portion of individual state history. What do you think of these propositions? How could these ideas be improved upon?

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:52:01 pm

Both seem to be very viable options. I particularly like the second one and the idea of nationwide curriculum with state history. This way everyone will be learning the same material but also history on their state, which can be a good thing. One way to improve this idea is making sure the curriculum taught nation wide is not biased and not taught "by the victor" so everyone can be on the same page with the right information.

Daniel Mariano

1/10/2020 09:32:45 am

Do you Think that the phrase "History is told by those who win." still is relevant in our society and in how history is depicted now in our schools?

Annabelle Chang

1/10/2020 07:08:44 pm

While the phrase "history is written by the victors" was true throughout much of history, this no longer the case in modern times. Today, people value knowing more sides of a story. While the way things are taught will always be skewed in someway, schools have shifted to showing more of history as it was than sugar-coating it to glorify the US. Take the "founding" of America for example; Columbus used to be portrayed as this hero that discovered America, but he's no longer viewed in such a positive light. The Colonists and the Indians did not get along and eat dinner together, but engaged in brutal wars.

Jane Cho

1/11/2020 11:14:40 pm

I think that this phrase is still relevant in our society today because there are some cases where this phrase exists when it comes to teaching history. Many textbooks and schools focus more on the triumphs of US history more than the losses that occurred. This is mainly with the idea that textbooks and history classes should teach patriotism and teach students to be proud Americans. There are many textbooks that leave out details or events that are biased towards the idea of how "great" America is and focus more on successes than failures.

Jane Cho

1/11/2020 11:36:27 pm

I believe that the phrase is still relevant today and is seen in the way many schools and textbooks teach history. Many textbooks tend to focus on the triumphs in history more than the failures because of the idea that the textbooks and history classes should promote patriotism and the idea that students should be proud of their country. In the US many textbooks are biased to the idea that America is "great" and is very successful. This is achieved by focusing less on the mistakes and downside of the US and more of the achievements the US has made over time.

Sprihaa Kolanukuduru

1/12/2020 11:53:31 am

Yeah, to some extent. I feel like there’s a large influence of who’s telling the story and most of the time, the story is dictated by who has enough power to make their version the majority? Sorry if that’s phrased weird but I believe that there’s still an influence of the side with more power, at the very least.

Varun Pillai

1/13/2020 12:39:24 pm

I believe that the phrase is still relevant today, but it is not all that we learn. We do indeed learn about the victories in battles and the effects of the victors. However, I believe that nowadays we also learn about the groups who lost the battle. We have looked at many different primary sources of the losing side which has taught us a lot about our history.

Benson Chen

1/10/2020 10:10:01 am

Our teachers pass down inaccurate facts or hide controversies from us because that’s what their teachers taught them. And as the Loewen reading suggests, we will do the same to our students if the cycle is not broken. So what can be done to break this cycle and prevent bias in the teaching of history.

Emma Penel

1/13/2020 09:14:24 pm

In order to break this cycle, I think that teachers should be better informed. Loewen points out that teachers can't question the information found in textbooks if they don't know that it's wrong. This situation is not helped by the fact that many history teachers are coaches who need positions as teachers. Also, many teachers have only a bare minimum of history credits from college.

Allison Charney

1/10/2020 11:20:27 am

Do parents really have a right to interfere in their child’s education and decide what they can learn in school?

Liz Aman

1/10/2020 11:59:56 am

I think that to a certain extent, parents should have a say in their child's education. However, this should not prevent other students from learning about controversial issues, especially in history courses. For example, if a parent did not want their child to participate in a discussion, the student could work on an alternate assignment so that other students would not be affected.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 12:52:11 pm

I don't believe so whatsoever. Parents shouldn't interfere with what students learn in school unless it's is blatantly wrong, they shouldn't be able to restrict their kids from learning things because they don't agree with them though. If a parent wishes for their child to learn certain things then that parent should teach that child those things, if they don't have faith in the public school system there is an option that would work for them and that's home school. Also one child's parents shouldn't be able to determine what another child who doesn't belong to them learns, due to their personal feelings as opposed to research and educated findings.

Regan G

1/12/2020 03:23:12 pm

I believe that to some extent parents should have a say. If the information being taught could negatively effect the student in any way, a parent should be able to step in and say something. Yet, in most cases I think it should be up to the child to decide what they want and don't want to learn.

John Bass

1/13/2020 01:08:39 pm

I think that parents have a right to interfere to an extent. They should be able to decide some things, but not others. Parents can, legally, choose how their children get an education, but the children must get some type. This kind of compromise should be made for the textbook situation also.

Siyona Shah

1/10/2020 11:37:53 am

Should textbooks be as regulated as they currently are? Should there be so many rules of what textbooks can and cannot contain?

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 01:11:45 pm

I think textbooks should be regulated to make sure that false information or misleading propaganda doesn't make it into textbooks. We should be strict about what we are giving students and make sure we aren't leading them away from the truth. However regulating textbooks doesn't hinder students from looking elsewhere for information. So even with regulation there are still ways of students getting false info, but by loosely regulating textbooks we can give students a good starting point.

Devin Bhatt

1/10/2020 11:44:29 am

Due to the fact that many of us come from different religious, ethnic, and other backgrounds, do you guys believe that invoking a strong sense of national pride in our education is a way to promote unity within our country?

Christian Lauchengco

1/11/2020 06:07:26 pm

I believe that it is a way to promote national unity. If everyone has something in common this can bring people together. However, the degree to which national pride should be invoked in the education system is up for debate.

Jeshelle Venancius

1/12/2020 11:08:34 pm

This would help promote national unity as it is a common ground that everyone can relate to and pulls them together in unity.

Anushka Vaidya

1/10/2020 12:09:09 pm

Should information being taught to students be censored in any way shape or form? How does this affect bias? Why is censorship such a big issue?

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 01:33:01 pm

I don't think we should censor the information being taught because when it comes to censorship, it appears like something is trying to be covered up or hidden. Trying to keep bad or unwanted parts out of textbook would be keeping the whole truth from the students and the purpose of school is to enlighten students and expand their horizon. By trying to censor the information being given to them you are limiting their potential to a certain extent and that is unfair to them.

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:43:44 pm

I believe censorship is a form of bias. If material in a textbook is being censored, who is doing that censoring, the school board? And, if the school board of one district is censoring certain material does that mean other school districts are doing it also? You almost go down a hole when people start trying to censor factual information because you get caught in the divide of is censorship right or wrong.

Semeon Petros

1/10/2020 01:14:11 pm

Who do you think should have the power to make the curriculum that is taught in school?

Shazia Muckram

1/10/2020 10:43:52 pm

I think that the students should have the most say on what they should be taught in school because I think that a student’s perspective is more important than anyone else's point of view because they are the ones learning and they should have a say on what interests them. By doing so, it would help the students do better in class and learn more than just facts and dates. Moreover, I think the articles we read for the seminar did not include the first hand experiences of students, making it seems like students are kept in the dark about the nature of history and encouraging them to believe that history is facts to be memorized.

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:38:28 pm

While I do believe kids should have some say in what they are being taught I don't know if I exactly believe they should have over-all say. They are kids after all and not every student is driven to take their knowledge into their own hands, for many it's easier to be taught curriculum and form their own opinions off of what they are being taught.

Regan G

1/12/2020 03:20:25 pm

I don't believe there is one person who has the power to make the curriculum, I think that teachers, parents, and students should all have a say in what is taught. Parents of course know what they want their kids to learn, but new information has become available since they were in school which should also give teachers a say, and since this is the child's education they should of course have an opinion on what they are being taught.

Tanvi Musale

1/13/2020 07:58:32 pm

I think that teachers should have the power to make up the curriculum because they should get the power to make decisions about what they need to teach their students. Most teachers are also educated on the subject they teach and so know how much and what a student should learn in certain grade levels. While parents' opinions are important, I think that their opinions may be more biased and result in sheltering their child more. It would be best if parents and teachers got together and set standards/guidelines to what may be inappropriate for the students to learn at certain grade-levels and compromise on it. In the end, the result of their collaboration should result in their students and children being well-educated on the subject.

Annabelle Chang

1/10/2020 04:14:24 pm

Education is typically handled locally, allowing for parents to have more say in their children's education. However, do you believe that there are any benefits to having a more centralized education system?

Christian Lauchengco

1/11/2020 06:05:55 pm

One benefit could be to limit extreme viewpoints being taught to children, and it could make it cheaper if all education required the same materials and resources. Another benefit to this system could be less confusion due to regional differences in education.

jamie long

1/12/2020 09:31:28 pm

I think a more centralized education system would have benefits, but neither extreme is perfect. A centralized system would help to generalize the content that is taught, and might help to alleviate tension from diverse areas where parents disagree about what should be taught. However, a system with too much power and no parent input at all could control what is taught in a negative extreme.

Varun Pillai

1/13/2020 12:36:58 pm

I believe a more centralized education system allows for many more viewpoints. If parents have control over their children's education, then they could force their own bias on them. However these viewpoints that the parents have could be wrong.

Darren Chang

1/13/2020 09:02:11 pm

One benefit to having a centralized education system is that all students across the country are taught the same things. This is possibly better for countries such as the U.S., which are huge and have a wide array of political spheres.

Shazia Muckram

1/10/2020 11:10:41 pm

Why do you think schools appoint coaches as history teachers rather than hiring professional graduates? What effect does this have on the future of the schools in the nation?

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 01:15:20 pm

I don't believe this is an entirely true statement. And just because someone is a coach doesn't mean that they are not educated in the field they are teaching. I think it's wrong to say that all history teachers are coaches who have no knowledge because I don't believe that is a true statement. And just because someone is a coach, the way school is taught with lesson plans being provided and a textbook, doesn't mean they can't give the students the information they need. A teachers ability to teach has nothing to do with their extracurricular activities.

Brenna Hanson

1/11/2020 04:23:53 pm

I think that Shazia is trying to look at the larger issue of schools not really focusing on the caliber of their history teachers the way they focus on other subjects. Sometimes, that manifests itself in schools sticking coaches who need to teach a class into history classes due to the thought that history is an easy course to teach. Of course, this observation has many, many exceptions but it highlights the deeper issue. Ultimately, schools don't value history classes and it shows. And when a school doesn't value history, they don't take the time to hire quality teachers or give their teachers the support and guidance required to teach a great class. And when the class becomes subpar because of this, students stop caring and the school's first assumption is confirmed- making this an unfortunate cycle.

Manasvi Marthala

1/12/2020 08:25:42 pm

I don't belive that they tend to hire coaches as history teachoers. I feel like that just happens to be a coincideence. It seems like many teachers that are coaches choose to be more skilled or knowledgable in histroy. Also, if they are a coach they have to be qualified enough to get the job as the teacher. If they were choosing as you were saying it would have a negative impact on the future of schools because the teachers wouldn't be as skilled but I don't think that is the case.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 12:48:32 pm

When it comes to teaching history and teaching it in a way where the whole story with multiple angles is presented, I think that is a very hard thing to achieve. The people who make textbooks include things they find important but that doesn't mean the things they leave out aren't important. I think as students we have an obligation to ourselves to look into history on our own and take the things we learn in school and build upon them outside of school.

Jakub Kreuter

1/11/2020 01:00:15 pm

As we see in the podcast religion plays a big role in a lot of people's lives. It shapes the way they think and there morals. However in the case of public schools could the enforcement of religious points of view interfere with separation of church and state?

Brenna Hanson

1/11/2020 04:14:32 pm

I definitely agree that religion plays a huge part in this issue, as in the case of Texas (out of the 4 members on their review board, 2 were evangelical pastors and 2 were historians). Its important to include religious views in our understanding of people's values, but also to understand that religious views are very much not homogeneous- which is why I found Texas' skewed board very unfair. In the end, I think that religious views should not really inform history curriculum, just as I don't think political views should either. The point of history is to let students come to their own conclusions, and I think that means curriculum writers shouldn't superimpose their own beliefs as much as possible.

Sprihaa Kolanukuduru

1/12/2020 11:51:27 am

I think that religion is a really big influence in the way people think since it plays into culture as well. I think it’s important for textbooks to address many religions if they have trouble taking out bias of a singular religion.

Kingston Hill

1/11/2020 01:27:36 pm

How much of the responsibility is on students to take what they get from textbooks and use it as a guide to do their own research? Can we say that textbooks are completely to blame when in today's world you can find tons of information on just about anything with the click of a few buttons?

Anushka Vaidya

1/13/2020 09:23:03 pm

Textbooks aren't completely to blame as we have the internet. But it is important to keep in mind that not everyone has the internet readily available to them, so textbooks are still very important.

Era Joshi

1/11/2020 02:35:09 pm

Who gets to control the values that children learn, their school, their parents, or the children themselves?

Hadley Seifert

1/11/2020 09:39:19 pm

I believe that its a mix of all three, parents more than schools because they have more control over what the kid can see and the children are more exposed to their parents beliefs, so they often take after them. Schools also have a certain amount of control over students values because schools systems can control what can and can not be taught in school which affects how students view certain things and helps them develop their values and beliefs. Ultimately the children have the most control over their values as they can agree or disagree with anything the school or their parents teach, creating their own values.

jamie long

1/12/2020 09:27:43 pm

I think it comes from a combination of the three, and all should have a pretty equal role in teaching values. I think the education system definitely makes an effort to try and instill positive morals in kids, and at home parents are able to foster and reinforce them. Children themselves also have to be able to form their own opinions on what they learn, and good values are hopefully encouraged enough by school and parents that they persist.

Brenna Hanson

1/11/2020 04:29:09 pm

In the podcast, we heard that the Board's solution to the complaints was to allow parents to pull their students out of certain lessons. If you were a parent and this option was available to you, would you use it? What "line" would the textbooks have to cross in order for you to censor it for your child? Do you think that in general this is a good solution for solving conflicts like the one in West Virginia, or is it problematic?

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:31:15 pm

I think this a very problematic solution because you as the parent are hindering your child's ability to learn by pulling them out of a class because you have different options. I as a parent do not think I would ever pull my child out of a class even though they are being taught something I do not agree with, I want them to be able to form their own opinions and thoughts on matters.

jamie long

1/12/2020 09:24:01 pm

I wouldn't pull my kids out of classes because I think it is important to learn about topics from the correct perspective, which is more likely to happen in a school environment, rather than online or from others. As a whole I don't think it's a good idea to allow parents to do this because it seems controlling and makes it easy for the parent to shelter their child so much it becomes harmful.

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:13:52 pm

I do not agree that there is a correct perspective that students should learn. The way students are taught are interpretations or perspectives of history, which are inherently opinionated and have some bias. However, I do agree that I would not pull my children out of school because at the very least they are becoming more aware of other interpretations of history. I could still teach them a different interpretation at home. I also agree that pulling them out would shelter the child(ren). The line for me is if the interpretation of history has no evidence and is historically inaccurate. This solution is problematic because it stunts the learning of the child.

Christian Lauchengco

1/11/2020 05:58:41 pm

Based on everything we have learned, do you think childrens' view on history is impacted more by textbooks or what they hear from their parents? If children learn more from their parents, then why do you think that parents are so concerned about what is written in a textbook?

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:25:13 pm

Both sides definitely play a large part in a child's understanding. A parents views shapes the child's as they grow up. And as the kids are growing they cement what they know and believe by reading the information found in textbooks. That being said I believe it can be threatening to parents if textbooks say something different than what they taught their child, because a child may choose to believe solid, documented facts found in a textbook than what their parents say.

Crystal Gayle

1/13/2020 08:03:05 pm

I believe that both parents and textbooks shape the way students view history. However, I think children are brought to think everything that they learn in school are solid facts. With this thought parents ideas about history can be contradicted by what is in a textbook making their own children not support their beliefs.

Anastasia Neff

1/20/2020 05:48:46 pm

I think that a child's view on history is impacted equally by both, and questioning only happens if one disagrees with the other. This is why i think that parents are so concerned with what is in the textbooks, because they want the textbooks to match what they have said to their children, whether they are right or wrong.

Hadley Seifert

1/11/2020 08:16:35 pm

If textbooks were to be written by someone else, how would the material in the textbook change? Would that also cause the curriculum in schools to be changed?

Dhairya Desai

1/13/2020 12:35:14 am

I think that textboooks should instead be writen by teachers or include what the schools and teachers want to teach rather than what the book publisher does. I dont think that it would change the cirriculum because then we can just buy a book that has our cirriculum.

Isha Parikh

1/13/2020 07:55:37 am

i think if the person has inherent bias and they strategically omit certain events, it can skew the reader's perception of history and how they view certain events. This may cause the curriculum in schools to be based if it was based on a textbook.

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:52:11 am

For every different person that writes and publishes a textbook, there will be a different set of information, bias, and emphasis. They might include more about historical events that affected their homeland and family while glossing over other potentially important concepts. If a school chose to adopt their textbook, it is likely that the history curriculum would reflect some of the bias of the textbook author.

Taewan Park

1/11/2020 08:53:56 pm

Do you think it’s possible to create well-balanced, standardized, unbiased “ideal” textbook? If so, what could be done to improve?

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:14:55 pm

I believe it could be possible but it would be a very long process as American and world history is already biased and that is reflected in our textbooks. A committee should be made with representatives all around the world who work to find and tell the unbiased stories of our history.

Regan G

1/12/2020 03:16:46 pm

Honestly, I do not think it's possible to have an unbiased and "ideal" textbook, because information comes across very differently to most people. This makes it hard to not have a generous amount of people with a different view than others.

Seokhee Kim

1/12/2020 04:29:26 pm

I don't believe that it is possible to create well-balanced, standardized, unbiased "ideal" textbook. In this world, many people have different opinions and if we want to make an ideal textbook, we might have to do some serious work in order to make it happen.

Jane Cho

1/11/2020 11:37:32 pm

Who do you think had a bigger following and more power in the textbook war? The people for the content of the textbook or the people against it?

Jeshelle Venancius

1/12/2020 11:07:16 pm

I think that those against it had a bigger following as many parents did not want their children to be exposed to such things and did not want their children to rebel against them with different views other than that of their parents

Jane Cho

1/11/2020 11:37:50 pm

There are many mixed feelings about the content of textbooks, some being offended by the content such as parents, evangelical ministers who believe that the textbooks should focus more on Christianity and more. Who do you think should be able to determine the content and information in textbooks?

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:02:09 pm

I don't know if you can really claim only one group should be able to record history how they want it to be taught because there will be bias any way it is done. I believe if there are groups, like evangelical Christians, who want to teach history their own way they should write and record how they want it and teach that to their followers.

Sprihaa Kolanukuduru

1/12/2020 11:48:53 am

How should we minimize the impact of these misleading textbooks in a classroom environment?

Amay Patel

1/12/2020 06:28:18 pm

Textbooks should not be the only resource that a course uses. If you analyze multiple documents and use various online resources to also learn then biased views in the textbook will have less of an impact.

Dhairya Desai

1/13/2020 12:33:24 am

A great way to minimize the impact of the textbooks is by doing wht we do in class right now. We discuss and disect the important parts and leave out the parts with bais.

Morgan Kelley

1/12/2020 12:01:11 pm

What selection/type of people do you believe would be best to write history books so that they can be objective in the information that they are teaching (i.e. high school teachers, professors, journalists, historians, etc.)?

Larry Tian

1/14/2020 08:32:12 am

I believe educators and historians themselves should dictate what is in the textbook. Although, it should be a group effort to determine the information in a textbook, so the information is dominated by one belief or political affiliation. The educators are the ones actually teaching it to the children, so they should have the ability to choose what they teach. Again, it should mainly be a group effort to determine the content, so the textbook isn’t very biased. There should also be people that regulate the content of the textbook to make sure it’s fair and presents both sides.

Nick Polsinelli

1/14/2020 12:04:39 pm

I believe anyone should be able to write a history book, however it should be stated early on what their profession is and their justification on why we should believe what they're writing (citations)

Regan Glass

1/12/2020 02:57:17 pm

In today's world, schools are very strict when it comes to teaching students about appropriate concepts, so why were they more comfortable with it back in the 80s?

Dhairya Desai

1/13/2020 12:32:14 am

I believe back then, they were less strict because they didn't care about how the kids were taught as much rather then just get them to grow up and get them working. I also think that more regulations were put out on how we are taught now.

Alexander Neiberger

1/13/2020 12:38:48 pm

I don't believe that in the 80s people were more comfortable with these concepts, after all the whole textbook war was against the concepts that were being taught to children. These same concepts that the protesters were against are being taught to kids in school today. For example, we learn about Freud's electra and oedipus complex without protest from parents. Because of this, I think we are more comfortable with being taught controversial topics today.

Hallie Salas

1/12/2020 03:18:52 pm

Although I was not here for the in class discussion I find it very interesting that the biased recounting of history is less spoken about than it should be. With that being said, it's a hard topic to approach because how do we go about now with this information, this is not an issue that can be easily fixed over time.

Arshia Haq

1/12/2020 03:29:41 pm

Which format of teaching do you find the most accurate? A technological approach? An approach with paper? Why?

Amay Patel

1/12/2020 06:25:29 pm

I find a mix of both to be most helpful because while there are many differing points of view online there are many false claims and statistics. And textbooks and paper teacher tools have one unchallenged view and can contain bias.

Seokhee Kim

1/12/2020 03:34:32 pm

Should people be able to remove facts from the textbook? If so, to what extent should they be allowed to remove the information?

Amay Patel

1/12/2020 06:26:46 pm

Anything can be omitted from textbooks by the will of the author or publisher. But if the facts when left out change the way an event or person is viewed they should have to be included.

Jeshelle Venancius

1/12/2020 11:05:36 pm

I believe that people cannot be responsible for what is in the textbooks but they should have an option whether to expose their children to that or not.

Darren Chang

1/13/2020 08:59:55 pm

I don't think that facts should be removed at all, however it is impossible to enclude "all of the fact" in one single textbook. I think that all textbooks do have a limited perspective from which they recount history from, and they should try and take a non-biased or as wide a perspective as possible.

Amay Patel

1/12/2020 06:09:42 pm

At what age or level of schooling should "controversial topics" be taught and what topics if any should be off limits.

Dhairya Desai

1/13/2020 12:26:57 am

I think that 6th grade would be a great age to teach the topics that were too violent or horrific, becuase at this age we are able to use the internet and access many things. Also I think that we should be taught lighter topics at a young age, but slowly add on to them as we go older so by a certain age we are open to hear anything.

Manasvi Marthala

1/12/2020 06:25:07 pm

Parents have a lot of impact on school board's decisions on what to keep in thier curriculum. How much should the school board take into account of what the parents believe that students need to learn and what do you think would happen if the parents didn't have any say?

Emma Penel

1/13/2020 09:00:48 pm

The school board shouldn't base the curriculum on the opinions of parents. While parents do have a right to control what their children learn to some extent, their beliefs shouldn't interfere with the education of other children. If parents had less say, the curriculum would probably incorporate more perspectives and include more controversial issues. Discussion of these issues help to expand students' perspectives in a more controlled environment.

Meredith G Burns

1/13/2020 09:52:21 pm

I don't think that parents should really get involved in the decision of what's put in the textbooks because I think they would just make it more biased. Also, I think the decision of what should be in the textbooks should be in the hands of professionals in history and teachers.

Sharan Sivakumar

1/12/2020 07:21:14 pm

How can we incorporate other versions and perspectives of history into our history classes?

Allen MacMillan

1/13/2020 06:55:34 pm

To incorporate other perspectives would be a really good thing for a history course, it would probably make it more engaging to include material from different countries and groups. But to do this you would probably need more time in the course, we did incorporate other perspectives in APUSH but not to a large extent and only a few time each unit.

Jamie Long

1/12/2020 09:18:15 pm

The podcast mentioned how the war about textbooks eventually evolved into deeper-rooted problems, such as racial tension and labor protests. Do you think the same situation is happening today, with similar tension over what should be taught in history classes?

Joey Caputo

1/12/2020 09:20:21 pm

What ways could society stop teaching children such broad and almost fake versions of history? Is there a certain extent that this can go?

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:45:51 am

For the sake of coverage in teaching kids history, I don't think that a very far extent could be reached in preventing a broad education. Students are often required to have a general understanding of all parts of history rather than a hyper-specific understanding of a specific time period. Maybe a reasonable approach to this would be to break up history into different time periods with each year of education rather than by sector of the world (Like US or European history). This might allow for more specifics to be taught.

Jeshelle Venancius

1/12/2020 10:43:11 pm

What side do you believe is the "right side" of the textbook wars. Should the textbooks still be taught or should kids be hidden from that type of information?

Dhairya Desai

1/13/2020 12:21:49 am

Should textbooks have to follow cetain regulations and certain rules to follow, or should they just contain what the author or teachers want in them?

Isha Parikh

1/13/2020 07:52:01 am

I think textbooks should contain what the author wants to put in it. There shouldn't have to be any rules or regulations on what to write because, in the end, it's the school's choice whether to use that textbook or not. Additionally, textbooks shouldn't be based on what teachers want in them, textbook authors should be allowed to write whatever they want.

Darren Chang

1/13/2020 09:05:33 pm

I think that textbooks should have a slight regulation to them to maintain a sense of integrity and reputability in commercially available textbooks, however slight adjustments in points of view can be allowed, as it is up to the local board of education to determine whether one textbook or another is suitable.

Nishka Mathew

1/13/2020 10:16:59 pm

I think that textbooks should have to follow certain regulations/rules so that history isn't completely fabricated or changed in the book. These regulations/rules could prevent a book that is being published that contains a lot of inaccurate information. I agree that the authors should have a large say in what information goes into the book because they are writing it but I believe they should stay within the rules/regulations. I don't believe that teachers should have a huge say in what is going into a textbook because each teacher would make a textbook a different way due to the innate bias that they hold. Teachers should decide what to emphasize in class and what other materials to provide other than the textbook rather than what goes in the textbook.

Isha Parikh

1/13/2020 07:44:23 am

Do you think that we are taught history in the "correct way? If not, how should it be changed and what can we do to change it.

Carter Yeh

1/13/2020 11:51:23 am

The way we are taught history in AP US History should be the way history is taught. Although this will be harder in younger grades, this will help younger children speak up about history and be more outgoing. Teaching history also helps them see other views and perspectives and not just the United States' perspective on subjects of foreign relations. Using this method they will have an early view of why countries respond the way they do.

Crystal Gayle

1/13/2020 12:04:05 pm

I don't think there is a way you can "correctly" teach history as everyone comes into the class with their own beliefs from their cultures. To best teach history I believe these perspectives should be highlighted so that students can understand that not everything they learn is fully correct and can understand the viewpoints of others.

Uma Bhat

1/13/2020 07:51:37 am

Can you draw any parallels between Southern attempts to control history and the modern AI and social media issue where it’s very easy to cocoon ourselves in information (i.e. we read what we want to read or what supports our own opinions)? If so, how do you think we can solve this?

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 10:05:21 am

To what extent should parents have the right to "shield" their children from information in history textbooks and courses? Could this masking of information be beneficial to anyone other than a parent preserving their own family's historical bias?

Carter Yeh

1/13/2020 11:35:45 am

Parents should be allowed to shield their children from information only that seems to gruesome if they are young. If the information is true and the parents are trying to block this information, then they have no right to block this information. Masking this information only is beneficial to other families that have similar bias.

Allen MacMillan

1/13/2020 07:06:41 pm

I don't parents should be able to "shield" information from their kid in a public school, if your kid is going to a public school then they should have to learn the same thing as the other kids. If the parent does like what their kid is being taught then they should find a different place to educate their child. masking historical information will only lead to a misunderstanding of history.

Carter Yeh

1/13/2020 11:31:47 am

What purpose do textbooks serve if they always seem to be outdated?

Allen MacMillan

1/13/2020 06:36:50 pm

I think as we see in the course we are taking that the purpose of the textbook is to inform us of the general parts of the time period. Then during class we go into thing that are more debatable and would not be included in a textbook that is trying to be sold.

Srinidhi Ekkurthi

1/13/2020 09:45:10 pm

Even though textbooks will always be outdated by the next year, they provide a source of information regarding the past no matter how many years pass. They will always have the same information. While they might be constantly updated like google and the rest of the internet, it provides a reliable source of events that happened in the past.

Kishan Patel

1/13/2020 09:47:55 pm

I believe that textbooks give us the topic and the general information then we go farther in depth in class. We use more recent data to back up the findings from the textbook that is outdated so we know if it is correct and why.

Nishka Mathew

1/13/2020 10:02:27 pm

One of the purposes of textbooks is to provide an accessible place for information that follows history chronologically so that it makes the most sense. Textbooks are largely used to effectively get information across to students due to its easy-to-understand way of conveying information. Textbooks writers are supposed to make the information more interesting for students rather than just reading a primary source document.

Crystal Gayle

1/13/2020 11:42:28 am

Do you believe that textbooks in the future will be reliable as sources from the internet are constantly changing and can be altered to make people believe the information is real?

Tanvi Musale

1/13/2020 08:20:42 pm

In the future, I think the textbooks with digital sources/digitalized textbooks will be reliable. Just because the sources can be altered doesn't mean just anyone will have the ability to alter them(otherwise, it would just be another Wikipedia). Instead I think a certain group of people(maybe historians) will update the information as objectively as possible.

Will Barbee

1/13/2020 12:08:23 pm

Although rich people have a large amount of control over the information that historical sources present, they are influencing it less and less. In the age of the internet, is it possible that our access to information online is making control over museums and textbooks less and less useful? Why else might this trend be happening?

Alexander Neiberger

1/13/2020 12:32:22 pm

Do you think that the founding fathers were influenced by Christian ideals, and therefore we should represent those in our textbooks?

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:23:23 pm

Yes, I think the founding fathers were influenced by Christian ideals because the country was founded by majority Protestant people. They or their ancestors migrated from Europe for religious freedom, opportunity, and more. I think we should mention this in our textbooks, but I do not think we have the sources to analyze and break down what is biased due to their Christian values and what is not.

Varun Pillai

1/13/2020 12:32:23 pm

Who are the groups of people who want to change history to fit their narrative?

Jackson Pollard

1/13/2020 09:55:59 pm

Changing history, or what of history is taught, has the potential to greatly increase nationalism in any country that distributes this information effectively. If more pride is needed in one's country in times of war or recession, then altering history in writing could increase normal devotion to the country and create a newfound willingness to contribute to it.

Larry Tian

1/14/2020 08:29:01 am

Many countries might want to modify their history in order to make their country look better, or even instill a sense of patriotism. For example, countries like China censor major events that are negative toward their own government, such as the Tiananmen Square Revolutions. This will hide their ugly past and keep a sense of patriotism in the country.

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:31:22 pm

Groups of people could include government officials, and highly religious and/or politically biased people. Some Catholic, strongly Republican, strongly Democratic, Protestant groups may want to change the curriculum because if is against their morals/beliefs/ideals. The government may want to change it to build patriotism in growing children. A lack of patriotism could create many issues within the country.

Aman Kumar

1/13/2020 12:33:52 pm

How do you propose history textbooks and teachers should teach history to their classes and students?

Emma Penel

1/13/2020 06:54:29 pm

I feel that one of the main problems that textbooks run into is that they only represent events in one perspective. For example, they often don't represent the perspectives of minority groups. Loewen explains this by claiming that textbook "publishers use patriotism, rather than scholarship, to sell their books." This pushes them to paint our history in a more positive light. Rather than attempting to meet standards, textbook authors and publishers should do their best to encompass all points of views and represent the past as accurately as possible. Teachers should challenge their students to question the content in their textbooks and have conversations about controversial issues.

Femi Chiegil

1/13/2020 07:38:47 pm

History is mainly taught in a simple way; basically, just facts, dates and names but I believe it should be taught as a narrative. I believe that knowing all historical events can help to reduce students from receiving information with bias.too.

Kishan Patel

1/13/2020 09:46:24 pm

I think that history should be taught and told the way it happened they shouldn't lie and give out false information. They say things to make the certain place look like the hero even if they did things that were overall bad and shouldn't have been done.

John Bass

1/13/2020 01:05:04 pm

In document 12 of the Who Owns History document set, Bob Barr writes, “advocates on both sides of these proceedings appear to misunderstand what is the purpose of a history textbook in the first place.” Do the Democrats in the Texas Board of Education hold bias as well as the Republicans?

Pratina Kandru

1/13/2020 02:33:09 pm

Why is it that after all these years textbooks barely change?

Kishan Patel

1/13/2020 09:43:33 pm

I think the reason that textbooks barely change over time because as the world keeps getting more and more advanced there is less controversy that is told to portray. They have to keep the stories that were in the old history books and don't know what to write about next.

Meredith G Burns

1/13/2020 09:49:06 pm

This is purely my opinion, but I think that textbooks haven't changed because when people first made and created them, they found out they worked. So, now they are thinking that because it works doesn't mean it should be changed. Another reason is probably because of money.

Austin Yao

1/13/2020 10:13:35 pm

Textbooks have changed significantly from the last century. In the last century, there were textbooks that were blatantly racist and preached a xenophobic view of the world. I think today most textbooks are a lot more accepting of diversity and morally sound. However, it does seem that textbooks have stagnated in recent years. I think this is because it is difficult to cover modern topics on history in an objective way, because we have yet to see the long-term effects of these issues. Thus, all knowledge of modern events are arguably based on hearsay and thus very biased.
I do think that every year, little changes are added back in textbooks but they are so gradual that we cannot really tell the difference as of now.

Allan Gilsenan

1/14/2020 07:29:31 am

It is not completely accurate to say that textbooks have "barely" changed over the years. Textbooks today are certainly not as blatantly racist and sexist as textbooks in the 20th century were. That being said, I agree that textbooks have not evolved as much as they should have by now. This is because, even in today's progressive society, white, elderly men still dominate the top of society and still ultimately have great control over what is included and not included in textbooks. Until that social hierarchy changes, textbooks will continue to see slow development.

Allen MacMillan

1/13/2020 06:30:46 pm

With modern technology would it make more sense to publish a textbook online and have it be readily editable for whenever significant documentation comes to light? editing text books instead of publishing new volumes every few years.

Tanvi Musale

1/13/2020 08:16:29 pm

That option would certainly be less costly as we wouldn't have to reprint the entire textbooks and so make them more up to date. However, there are a lot of people without access to technology at school or at home, which would make it difficult for them to have access to the same resources at a student in a more affluent area.

Emma Penel

1/13/2020 06:32:48 pm

In what ways can we spark conversations about controversial issues that allow us to view history through different perspectives?

Allan Gilsenan

1/13/2020 08:16:05 pm

I think that textbooks should simply present facts and primary sources without any analysis so that students can deduce their own opinions on historical events and developments. Classes should be taught similar to our APUSH class, where we go over pertinent primary source documents and analyze such documents through HAPP's and class discussion.

Austin Yao

1/13/2020 10:10:15 pm

I think that seminars are a great way to discuss controversial issues. I don't think I have ever gone out of a seminar without learning something new about a different perspective. Seminars allow students to collaborate and discuss in a more friendly setting, and having a prewrite or research requirement facilitates a healthy and informed conversation.

Anastasia Neff

1/20/2020 05:45:57 pm

By using primary and secondary sources from the time period we are learning about, we can look into controversial issues while considering both sides of the issue. This way each individual can come up with their own opinion without just pointing fingers at one group or another. It is easier to get the real history of a controversial issue when you have the chance to figure it out yourself and are not just given the facts of what it is and are forced to believe that.

Femi Chiegil

1/13/2020 07:36:41 pm

The importance of learning history in school cannot be denied but how should history really be taught in schools? and what is the right age to start learning history?

Allan Gilsenan

1/13/2020 08:12:45 pm

I believe history should be taught to students from a young age, it is important for even first and second graders to know basic information about America's past. Obviously these students should be taught a very brief summary of historical developments without profane details, however, this does not mean that these students should be misled. Young students should have a simple, but accurate knowledge of American history. As for high school students, they should be taught all the details of history, even the taboo and profane details. High Schoolers see plenty of inappropriate things all over the internet and social media on a daily business, so they are able to handle sensitive historical information.

Ameena Farooqui

1/13/2020 08:03:18 pm

Is enforcing multiculturalism the most effective way to teach multiple perspectives on history?

Meghan Walker

1/13/2020 09:39:11 pm

I think that multiculturalism is very beneficial in understanding the entirety of history. Knowing and seeing how different cultures have varying sets of beliefs and values and how that impacts their decisions and actions throughout history allows for a broader understanding of history as a whole. It’s important to not only learn about ones personal culture and history, but others as well to have a broader world view.

Austin Yao

1/13/2020 10:08:47 pm

I think multiculturalism is an important part of teaching perspectives on history, but identifying it as the most effective way to teach multiple perspectives of history is flawed. This is simply because not all multicultural views are different; in fact, within one culture there can be a variety of views. I think that this idea promotes the notion that your culture dictates your opinion on history, which isn't right at all. Different perspectives on history depend on socioeconomic status, previous experiences, primary/secondary experiences, and a bit of personal culture.

Nick Polsinelli

1/14/2020 12:00:20 pm

Multiculturalism is an important factor in teaching perspectives on history - it is effective due to the fact that analyzing the viewpoints of differing ethnic groups and cultures offers an adept and often three-dimensional view regarding the multitude of experiences Americans have faced.

Jennifer Caputo

1/13/2020 08:21:32 pm

How do you think it should be decided about what historical events get put in textbooks?

Srinidhi Ekkurthi

1/13/2020 09:42:46 pm

I believe that the historical events that are put into textbooks should correlate with the goal of the textbook. The historical events that are put in it should correlate with the topic that the textbook is trying to teach. If a textbook is about world history, the most relevant topics and ideas of how the world was shaped and changed through the years should be the historical events that decided upon to put in a textbook.

Meredith G Burns

1/13/2020 09:46:22 pm

I think the way things should be decided about what historical events to be put in textbooks should be that it should be discussed with a large, objective, and multicultural group. Also I think that it would be good if they discussed which ones had the biggest effect on America and the World.

Tanvi Musale

1/13/2020 08:33:00 pm

How did the textbook war suppress teachers' ability to properly educate their students?

Meghan Walker

1/13/2020 09:40:37 pm

The textbook war put teachers out of the decision of what should be taught in a way. While parents and professionals were arguing over what should or shouldn’t be included, teachers had to teach whatever they were told to teach. This meant that even if they viewed the material as wrong, or were aware of the bias, they couldn’t do much about it.

Rohan Das

1/14/2020 10:41:53 am

Not only did it physically stop teachers from teaching through violence but also through fear of people opposing them, as there are always people who will argue against what is taught. For the teachers, there was no winning.

Darren Chang

1/13/2020 08:47:05 pm

In the text by James Loewen, we read how one of his writings was rejected for his use of the word "genocide". How does descriptive language used affect perspectives on history and how is this a point of contention between publishers and writers?

Meghan Walker

1/13/2020 09:43:13 pm

Certain words bring certain connotations, and with it, conflicting feelings. In the case of the word genocide, many people only think it’s ever happened in Germany, but in reality it’s happened all across the globe. Understanding the meaning and implications behind certain words influences how people see the rest of the text. When people want to paint actions in certain ways, they’re going to use certain words. While a lot of writers want to be as unbiased as possible, certain publishers are likely to ask for words to be changed or removed in order to change the meaning behind the text to something they are more comfortable with.

Anisha Harkara

1/13/2020 09:19:20 pm

Through this class, We’ve learnt about different biases, and how everything can be biased. I think that there’s no way to make a textbook totally unbiased. First off, I don’t think we have enough information. To accurately address all perspectives, we would need information from all sides of the story. I dont think that that is feasible because there is always at least one side forgotten. Someone mentioned that we could ask all countries to gather data all from various perspectives, that’s a good idea, but not all countries are honest. Some may lie about events to make themselves look better, and perspectives are varied within a country as well. Do you think there is anything we can do to reduce bias? Or would it make more sense to change curriculum or something like that.

Anushka Vaidya

1/13/2020 09:21:05 pm

What different factors play into how students learn and perceive information? How could this affect the education system?

Rohan Das

1/14/2020 10:40:50 am

Religion, culture, and bias all play into what students and even adults learn on a daily basis, even more so dependent on the location, such as highly religious or political areas.

Arabella Cai

1/13/2020 09:28:10 pm

After reading through the source "Lies My Teacher Told Me", do you guys think whether history, especially during the darker times, should be downplayed or made more simply when being taught to younger students?

Arabella Cai

1/13/2020 09:30:58 pm

After reading the text "Lies My Teacher Told Me", do you guys think whether history, especially during the darker times, should be downplayed or made more simply when being taught to younger students?

javairia qadir

1/13/2020 09:35:47 pm

In the great text book wars they discussed how this event was similar to the civil rights movement and had clearly gotten different reactions . What event does this seem similar to? If this were to happen today do what do you think would be different? Would it be as violent and eye catching?

Meghan Walker

1/13/2020 09:37:26 pm

To what extent should parents be involved in deciding what should be taught in curriculums for all children, not just their own?

Noel Garcia

1/14/2020 08:20:56 am

They shouldn't have any say besides censorship. For example in Wake County, parents are allowed to censor Sex education in 5th grade if they want to teach their child or completely censor them.

Rohan Das

1/14/2020 10:39:50 am

It depends on the grade of the child, as elementary school children cannot decide for themselves as much as children in high school. Of course, there should always be some decision sway from the parents as they are the parental figure of the child.

Srinidhi Ekkurthi

1/13/2020 09:39:33 pm

What do you think is the right way to teach history. Is there anyway possible to teach history without bias or will bias always exist in some shape or form?

Lalitha Edupuganti

1/14/2020 08:31:40 am

I feel like APUSH shows the best way to teach history today, by following the traditional use of the textbook but compelling students to look for answers outside of the book such as in primary sources we look at everyday. I think in a way, APUSH allows us to find bias effectively and look past it.

Kishan Patel

1/13/2020 09:39:46 pm

I believe that history should be taught the right way no matter how graphic it is. There is no point to fabricate the history books and teach the kids false information. They need to know the truth so that they don’t think the U.S is the best and always was and will be.

Nick Polsinelli

1/14/2020 11:56:06 am

I agree, however I believe that touchy subjects such as rape and graphic murder should be withheld from non-high school students, although topics such as genocide should be brushed on at an early age.

Meredith G Burns

1/13/2020 09:42:46 pm

One question that I never got to ask was, what is better for education, objective history or biased history?

I think that objective history is better for education because it gives a nice clean way of looking on things and it doesn't make you pick sides between conflicts. When education is biased that means students will learn to think that certain way instead of picking their own sides.

Lalitha Edupuganti

1/14/2020 08:29:35 am

I agree with objective history too because as you said it allows the learner to read and understand the content without debating on sides. I believe that, when people said students learn from history textbooks (which is why some stuff such as riots shouldn't be in there), that is true in the case of biased history. If students as said learn about life from history textbooks, they would be learning the wrong lessons from a biased textbook.

Logan Talton

1/16/2020 11:29:31 am

Objective history is much better for the simple reason that instead of being told right from wrong, the students are able to analyze the evidence of history and make their own decisions about what they believe regarding history.

Anastasia Neff

1/20/2020 05:43:03 pm

I believe that textbooks should try to be as objective history as possible, but that it is also really important to look into biased samples of history. Like in APUSH we use the textbook of more of a shell of history and fill in the holes with interpretations of biased primary and secondary sources.

Nishka Mathew

1/13/2020 09:56:07 pm

In the Lies My Teacher Told Me, the author said that “To maintain a stratified system, it is terribly important to control how people think about that system...If members of the elite come to think that their privilege was historically justified and earned, it will be hard to persuade them to yield opportunity to others. If members of deprived groups come to think that their deprivation is their own fault, then there will be no need to use force or violence to keep them in their places.” (pg 4) This quote shows that the author believes that people in power uses history to attempt to keep America as stratified system (divided based on class, gender, race). They do this by blaming the minorities/people who are in poverty (etc.) that they are in the condition they are only due to themselves rather than providing the accurate historical context for why they were deprived. The people in power wants to promote the narrative that the system is equal when in fact it is very unequal. I think the idea of the American Dream is similar to this because it promotes the idea that hard work equates to success but it fails to account for the privileges that get many ahead and the downfalls that prevent many from reaching their full potential. Rather it blames the individual for not working hard enough.

DJ Gill

1/13/2020 09:59:58 pm

Should teachers be allowed to change the curriculum sent by the state and federal government? If so to what degree and in what ways?

Noel Garcia

1/14/2020 08:19:02 am

Yes. Teachers aren't robots and don't spit out what is given to them. Teachers are most effective in a conversational tone in my opinion, and the ability to input their intelligence in a lesson is effective teaching.

Larry Tian

1/14/2020 08:26:15 am

I do believe that teachers should be able to modify curriculum in their own ways. They should be able to teach what is correct and correctly tell history instead of basing it off possible false information from the curriculum. However, teaching the truth could get the teachers fired, which I believe is unjust. Although I believe it is unfair, this is really subjective and mainly up to the teacher.

Lalitha Edupuganti

1/14/2020 08:26:53 am

I think the curriculum probably shouldn't change based on each teacher because it may include a teachers bias when they were to change the curriculum. Rather, I believe that the teachers should have the opportunity to choose how to teach history in a more effective way, whether that be textbooks or something else.

Austin Yao

1/13/2020 10:05:42 pm

Although standardizing education is important, at what point does this action action intrude on the First Amendment rights of students and teachers? Where should the line be drawn and why?

Nishka Mathew

1/13/2020 10:06:34 pm

With the immense amount of textbooks that are being published how do rating committees, textbook adoption boards, etc. accurately chose which book effectively represents history? What do you think is the most important factor to consider when rating/choosing the textbooks?

Lalitha Edupuganti

1/14/2020 08:23:23 am

I think the most important factor to consider is bias, whether the textbook covers all groups equally, not just show Americans as the superior. I also believe in addition to rating and choosing the textbooks, the board making the decision should have a mix of all races/ethnic groups to get a better voting and not an unequal majority.

Noel Garcia

1/14/2020 08:17:16 am

In the seminar, we discussed the prevalence of online databases instead of "biased" textbooks. I wanted to collect thoughts on how we'd then be able to avoid bias by the teachers delivering the material and documents?

Ashley Elliott

1/17/2020 04:12:08 pm

I think that the idea of online databases that was suggested was more so that information could be changed as needed and to fit to different states wants. It was also a way that more people could have textbooks because of the expenses of printing the books. Bias could not be completely avoided no matter what the format because of the way authors choose to present the information. When it comes to primary sources, there would be bias because it is from a specific point of view. To prevent there from being a lot of bias however, presenting both sides of a situation would help students understand the event better.

Ashley Elliott

1/17/2020 04:20:14 pm

I think that the point of the online databases that was discussed was more so to be able to easily change information, make it for the wants of an individual state and to help spread information in a way that costs less. To print a textbook would be more expensive than having an online database. Bias, no matter what the format, would not be completely avoidable. Authors can still influence what people think based on the way they choose to present the information and their word choice. Primary sources would have bias because it is written from a certain point of view. To help lessen biased knowledge both sides of an event can be shared but the bias would not be gone completely.

Lalitha Edupuganti

1/14/2020 08:19:02 am

Throughout the readings & podcast, there is an emphasis on how textbooks can influence students’ beliefs and ideologies, to what extent do you think this is true? Do you guys think we are influenced by our history textbooks?

Aditya Tripathi

1/14/2020 10:59:21 pm

I feel that is necessary for the students and families to decide for themselves whether or not they want to preach the textbooks. I think they should have the right to decide if they want their kids to have to read certain material, instead of having one group decision that affects the whole county. For example, maybe two versions of the book could be made, one for each side of the argument, and the parents/families get the choice of which book they want their children to read.

Logan Talton

1/16/2020 11:26:19 am

I definitely do. The Texas textbook people made sure to add more conservative and religious views. For example, they wanted more about the black panthers and religion and less about anything that could offend Christians. If we read this, we are less likely to be critical and naturally accept them as fact (these are the textbooks after all). If a textbook does not give us all aspects of history, then it gives us no choice but to accept the view presented as fact instead of allowing the individual to make the judgements for themselves.

Larry Tian

1/14/2020 08:24:04 am

How might hiding history negatively impact children? Do the benefits of hiding the truth from children (such as patriotism) outweigh the negatives of it?

Om Surkund

1/15/2020 09:03:14 pm

I think that hiding history from children shouldn't occur to a certain extent. As children age, maturity levels raise and with that comes the ability to objectively understand a topic with as little bias as possible. Therefore, as students start to become more mature it should be easier to show a point from all sides instead of a side that may hide the truth. We should be teaching children how to critically analyze a historical situation instead picking one side and building historical opinions.

Rohan Das

1/14/2020 10:35:14 am

Do you guys think that bias plays a significant role in deciding what exactly goes into the textbook, or does the state regulatory help dispose of bias through corrections?

Aditya Tripathi

1/14/2020 10:54:06 pm

Yes, some reasons texts are biased may be because historians are from privileged, white families, an upper-class conspiracy, personal judgment, to control elements of society, publishers and the state. It’s difficult to know each of the different parties agendas and motives for wanting history to be presented in a certain light, but all of these different groups go into the creation of a text, and you can hardly say they are always objective.

Nick Polsinelli

1/14/2020 11:53:38 am

Does irrelevant and redundant information in textbooks negate factual history?

Ashley Elliott

1/17/2020 04:02:32 pm

I would say that irrelevant and redundant textbook content makes the truly important historical events seem less important but does not cover it up completely. For students, unnecessary information would add too much to the picture and cause them to focus less of their attention on what is important. While it is important to consider if additional information or a lot of information should be included, it also means you have to ask what is important and what is redundant and irrelevant?

Logan Siege

1/14/2020 08:56:57 pm

How big of an impact does Texas’ evangelical views affect other states’ textbooks and education styles?

Om Surkund

1/15/2020 09:12:50 pm

The evangelical influence of Texas may have a substantial impact on the education styles of other states. Religion has always seemed to clash with modern science and for example, this conflict can be seen through the major topic of evolution. Texas creating the education about controversial topics such as evolution will favor their views and biases. So, other states may be forced to learn about such topics through the views of Texans instead of a more objective viewpoint. This can prove to be quite problematic as those states may have majority opinions that don't coincide with Texas influenced education, which ultimately shows how the impact of Texas influencing education is extremely significant.

Aditya Tripathi

1/14/2020 10:50:35 pm

What were some of the political/economic repercussions of dropping the bomb for both the US and Japan? How did both nations eventually become allies with one another after such a catastrophic event?

Aditya Tripathi

1/14/2020 10:52:03 pm

What purpose does keeping knowledge away from the people ever a good idea? We saw in the Vietnam War when the government kept information from the public and how when they found out there was mass protest?

Om Surkund

1/15/2020 09:16:24 pm

I believe the answer to this is quite simple. In the example that you gave, the government hid controversial knowledge from the public for one major reason. The government at the time was fighting against North Vietnam. Even if what they were doing was quite controversial, they knew that they couldn't be fighting against the North Vietnamese and also their own people. Keeping knowledge away from the people ensured that the people always stayed on the governments side. So that explains why the government may have chosen to classify that information.

Logan Talton

1/16/2020 11:10:13 am

How would you feel if the government openly stated that the military was slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians in Vietnam. I don't think the government would want to do that. But instead of fixing the problem, it is much simpler to not tell the people. This way peace can be insured at home and victory abroad. Of course, with the case of Vietnam, the United States achieved neither of these goals. The thing is, the government wants peace and victory, and sometimes censorship is necessary to achieve those goals.

Aditya Tripathi

1/14/2020 10:56:10 pm

Loewen started off by stating that even though we see problems with textbooks year after year, and they come out with new editions year after year, they do not change. Textbook authors write with students in mind, as well as the general public, and historians and professors. They do not want to “arouse” the public and be controversial. Loewen argues that textbooks still follow this American Legion ideal: “must inspire the children with patriotism, must be careful to tell the truth optimistically, must dwell on failure only for its value as a moral lesson, must speak chiefly of success, must give each State and Section full space and value for the achievements of each” (pg 265). Loewen says this is the ideology textbooks follow. This may be true, I’m not sure what I believe, but I felt there was a lot of analysis and questioning in my history text, and maybe that was a feature of the teacher and not the text, but it’s definitely something to think about.

Connor Lauchengco

1/16/2020 11:20:08 pm

I agree and felt that Loewen gave a bit of a blanket statement. I felt that multiple perspectives of many issues were given in our textbook and it did not shy away from controversy. Then again there may be other events simply omitted from the book. The best way to decide would probably be to compare the portrayal of a time period in our book with another textbook.

Om Surkund

1/15/2020 09:18:27 pm

In the class discussion, we decided that information should become more and more objectively delivered as a child becomes more mature. How can we assess the maturity of a child and decide when they have the ability to critically analyze a historical situation?

Connor Lauchengco

1/16/2020 11:17:02 pm

While age can be a good indicator of the maturity of a child it is not always the best one. Observation of a child's mature actions and thought is the best indicator.

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:04:35 pm

This is an obvious answer, but I think we need some sort of assessment or critical thinking test to assess the maturity of a child. Rather than by age, children of different ages can be grouped together for "history" class based on this maturity test. This should also require the completion of certain history classes so they have some background knowledge and historical context.

Logan Talton

1/16/2020 11:00:47 am

Textbooks are obviously here to teach, but how much? What should be censored from the eyes of children, teens, and even college students in textbooks? Adults? Should everything have a chance of being taught?

Connor Lauchengco

1/16/2020 11:24:10 pm

While I believe that no information should be completely locked away, certain works or information could be dangerous or inappropriate in the wrong hands. Children for instance don't need to have access to works that could be considered to promote violence or fanaticism.

Connor Lauchengco

1/16/2020 11:15:18 pm

Is it up to the teachers to stand up against the injustice? Or should the people in power use their power to make it so teachers don't have too?

Ashley Elliott

1/17/2020 03:49:01 pm

People in power should be the ones to fix injustices in textbooks, but in instances where that does not happen, it should be up to teachers and parents. Teachers should have a say in what they are teaching and the resources that they are given. Parents should be able to have a say in what their children are taught. Teachers and parents and their children will be the ones who will be directly affected by what is taught and therefore should be major parts of the decisions made in textbooks.

Varun Iyer

1/17/2020 03:36:06 pm

What should the role of primary sources be in teaching history? I think primary sources can be very helpful in teaching students relatively unbiased history. They tell stories of what happened in the real time.

Ashley Elliott

1/17/2020 03:41:35 pm

Why are conflicts over textbooks a lesser known topic if it is such an important issue?

Anastasia Neff

1/20/2020 05:41:04 pm

Why is religion often seen as such a big part of what does or does not make it into textbooks? With so many different religions inside the US, why is this still a problem today?

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Scored Discussion #5, Fall 2019

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Scored Discussion #5

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