Current Events > A student just asked me if history class will be "white-washed"

(+) Yeah! (+)

Lol

Im teaching online summer orientation, which is a week of online school that goes over what middle school would be like for our new students. Its mostly for incoming 6th graders but we have a few 7th and 8th graders

A student just asked via the chat Is the history class going to be white washed?

I mention this since Im fully expecting kids to come back from quarantine/BLM ready to be more critical of their education, which I think is wonderful and I hope that teachers around the nation are ready for the challenge.

(I teach math, btw)

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Did you answer yes or did you lie?

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Did you ask him if he knows what whitewashing means?

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I Like Toast posted...

Did you answer yes or did you lie?

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It'll be Arabic af

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Ugh lol

I Like Toast posted...

Did you answer yes or did you lie?

I replied verbally to her question. I said, and Im paraphrasing of course:

Hi, thank you for your question. I understand your concern. I do not teach history at our school but I can assure you that our history teachers will teach you to think critically about the sources youll encounter. We do not use a textbook, which lets the teachers create their own units and pull from more diverse sources than you might traditionally find. I think it will be up to you to determine if the class is ultimately biased or not, as I am not a history teacher and I do not feel qualified to answer that for you.

Honestly though I think she just wanted a reaction, our school staff (and the students) are literally all Latino

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I'd make him stay after the class and write the pledge of allegiance on the board 100 times. Enough of that liberal bullcrap.

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That is a professional answer.

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Damn_Underscore posted...

That is a professional answer.

History teachers gonna be pissed he punted that extra responsibility to them lol.

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Damn_Underscore posted...

That is a professional answer.

Yessir. Being able to respond to questions like that, and de-escalating, are some of the strongest skills you have to build as a teacher. And I love it since its a skill Ive been able to use outside of my classroom as well.

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parabola_master posted...

. We do not use a textbook

*topic list*

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SevenTenths posted...

*topic list*

I read a really good article recently about how textbooks are an outdated practice (although I think it was about science/medicine in particular) because, by the time everything gets proofread, approved, and published, there is likely a new idea or concept and a lot of the published information becomes obsolete. I understand that this maybe doesnt apply to every grade level, but it made me think differently about the role of textbooks in the classroom.

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They woke

Can you ask your history teacher colleagues and post their response?

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Looking back at it it's ridiculous how white-washed the history classes I had in Elementary were.

Like it pretty much just glossed over the Residential School system and how awful and destructive it was. Of course at that time I didn't have a home PC and there was no Wikipedia so I (like many kids) were just left completely in the dark until we were older.
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parabola_master posted...

I read a really good article recently about how textbooks are an outdated practice (although I think it was about science/medicine in particular) because, by the time everything gets proofread, approved, and published, there is likely a new idea or concept and a lot of the published information becomes obsolete. I understand that this maybe doesnt apply to every grade level, but it made me think differently about the role of textbooks in the classroom.

I had the exact opposite response as that dude when I read you guys don't use textbooks. It's a good thing.

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parabola_master posted...

I read a really good article recently about how textbooks are an outdated practice (although I think it was about science/medicine in particular) because, by the time everything gets proofread, approved, and published, there is likely a new idea or concept and a lot of the published information becomes obsolete. I understand that this maybe doesnt apply to every grade level, but it made me think differently about the role of textbooks in the classroom.

In regards to medicine, textbooks arent completely outdated and certain aspects of medicine dont particularly change much at all. We dont rely completely on texts, we use research journals, colleges/organizations who composite data for us so we can come to a consensus, and studies themselves. But the text for most well established things or surgical steps are definitely a gold standard.

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mech dragon posted...

Can you ask your history teacher colleagues and post their response?

Well its honestly a non-question. Our history department is excellent (honestly they are the strongest teachers at our school) and theyve been teaching history through a critical lens for a long time now. If I had to be blunt, Id feel confident in saying that they do not teach a white-washed history class at all, lol

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MrPeppers posted...

In regards to medicine, textbooks arent completely outdated and certain aspects of medicine dont particularly change much at all. We dont rely completely on texts, we use research journals, colleges/organizations who composite data for us so we can come to a consensus, and studies themselves. But the text for most well established things or surgical steps are definitely a gold standard.

Thank you for this clarification. I would have to pull up the article and reread it, since Im a bit foggy on its details.

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It honestly doesn't matter. Do and say what the professor wants you to to get good grades so you can get a good job. That's how you succeed in life.
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parabola_master posted...

I read a really good article recently about how textbooks are an outdated practice (although I think it was about science/medicine in particular) because, by the time everything gets proofread, approved, and published, there is likely a new idea or concept and a lot of the published information becomes obsolete. I understand that this maybe doesnt apply to every grade level, but it made me think differently about the role of textbooks in the classroom.

all it makes me thing is an underfunded school looking to save cash because middle management at the school board wants a fat bonus

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Its middle school meaning its just going to be state history, what is there to whitewash. No textbook has defended the civilwar or " manifest destiny" for at least 30 years....I mean maybe world history but that is more or less a chronological list of people/events and what happened not anything indepth.

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I don't know where you live but my middle school didn't teach state history, and my high school history class was less than 30 years ago and really bad.

ZeroX91 posted...

Its middle school meaning its just going to be state history, what is there to whitewash. No textbook has defended the civilwar or " manifest destiny" for at least 30 years....I mean maybe world history but that is more or less a chronological list of people/events and what happened not anything indepth.

It's never as overt as defending the Civil War or Manifest Destiny.

It's stuff like, say with my Residential School system example, completely leaving out that children were forcibly taken from their parents to be sent to these "schools", never saw them again, and were beaten, raped, and died all in the name of exterminating the Native way of life.

Instead you'd get told shit like "Kids went to these schools to learn English and be educated in order to successfully integrate into settler life".
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The biggest problem I have with a textbook is that it confines a lot of what students are learning to a single voice--whoever wrote/edited/published that book chose everything that's included (and everything excluded).

I once heard something interesting, but I forget where: "When you read a book, you're reading it in your own voice. You're repeating another person's words back to yourself in your own voice." That can be a little dangerous if there's not a variety of sources and conflicting accounts to dilute the message. I don't like the idea of letting a kid get too complacent with one tone and one school of thought.

Like TC alluded to, the most important thing a school can teach to a kid is how to think critically and understand the validity and tone of information they read/hear. Learning about world history is great, and all, but if you know everything about the Warsaw Pact and nothing about critical thinking, you might end up believing that the Earth is flat.

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Okay, I think I know where the confusion lies.

When I was in school, yes we did have history books and, in retrospect, they were pretty white-washed. I will say that, growing up in Los Angeles, I did have super radical history teachers (one of whom kept getting in trouble with the school, but she was awesome, lol; she was the only teacher who taught a bit of LGBT history and identity in class, and as a gay kid I was really grateful for it) who had really amazing in-class activities and discussions, challenging things like manifest destiny, etc. Keep in mind that I didn't have as much access to the Internet at that time, so I really relied on those teachers to expose me to different perspectives.

With Common Core now, however, history has really focused on first-hand sources. In fact, students as early as 6th grade are answering document-based questions and writing full essays (I honestly didn't write a 5-paragraph essay until, maybe, 8th grade). I think that the current curriculum, and standards, lend themselves very easily to a critical lens from which to study history. I hope this makes sense.

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ZeroX91 posted...

Its middle school meaning its just going to be state history, what is there to whitewash. No textbook has defended the civilwar or " manifest destiny" for at least 30 years....I mean maybe world history but that is more or less a chronological list of people/events and what happened not anything indepth.

huh??????? We spent like five minutes learning our state history in the twelve years we were in school. Instead I spent 25% learning the Eurocentric world history and 75% learning the white American history over and over

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Bio1590 posted...

It's never as overt as defending the Civil War or Manifest Destiny.

It's stuff like, say with my Residential School system example, completely leaving out that children were forcibly taken from their parents to be sent to these "schools", never saw them again, and were beaten, raped, and died all in the name of exterminating the Native way of life.

Instead you'd get told shit like "Kids went to these schools to learn English and be educated in order to successfully integrate into settler life".

Anyone with a brain should be able to infer that though, textbooks dont exist to inflame and divide save that for actual indepth courses not a class trying to summarize events for a basic understanding. You 180 hours to cover what you are teaching, then you have to divide that 180 by 2 or 4 depending on what grade level you are at.

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parabola_master posted...

Okay, I think I know where the confusion lies.

When I was in school, yes we did have history books and, in retrospect, they were pretty white-washed. I will say that, growing up in Los Angeles, I did have super radical history teachers (one of whom kept getting in trouble with the school, but she was awesome, lol; she was the only teacher who taught a bit of LGBT history and identity in class, and as a gay kid I was really grateful for it) who had really amazing in-class activities and discussions, challenging things like manifest destiny, etc. Keep in mind that I didn't have as much access to the Internet at that time, so I really relied on those teachers to expose me to different perspectives.

With Common Core now, however, history has really focused on first-hand sources. In fact, students as early as 6th grade are answering document-based questions and writing full essays (I honestly didn't write a 5-paragraph essay until, maybe, 8th grade). I think that the current curriculum, and standards, lend themselves very easily to a critical lens from which to study history. I hope this makes sense.

All I know is my aunt who was a first grade teacher hated the fuck out of Common Core (and no child left behind) if all you have to teach is brushing your teeth, basic sentence structure, how to make change, and vocabulary and you dont have enough time to go indepth its probably not a great system.

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ZeroX91 posted...

Anyone with a brain should be able to infer that though, textbooks dont exist to inflame and divide

Actually telling the truth is not "inflaming and dividing", this isn't a matter of opinion. You're literally whitewashing this shit right now lmao.

You cannot teach the history of Canada and European settler-First Nations peoples relations without covering the Residential School system.

And "anyone with a brain should be able to infer that though"...we're talking like 9-10 year-olds here, dude.
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Bio1590 posted...

Actually telling the truth is not "inflaming and dividing", this isn't a matter of opinion. You're literally whitewashing this shit right now lmao.

You cannot teach the history of Canada and European settler-First Nations peoples relations without covering the Residential School system.

And "anyone with a brain should be able to infer that though"...we're talking like 9-10 year-olds here, dude.

And we have been warning them about strangers since the begining of time, they can put together what happens kids arent dumb.....how is it white washing to say x happened y year and move on? Lets use Egypt as an example, where is Egypt in Africa, what do the original inhabitants of Africa look like? No need to go on about how paint fades over time and the like

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