Treason Act 1381

Transcription

Helen Keller was a radical Socialist; Woodrow Wilson advocated white supremacy; within three years, the plagues brought by Europeans to America left only one native in twenty alive in coastal New England. A student would be hard-pressed to find facts like these, which paint America and its heroes in a less-than-positive light, in a typical history textbook. Indeed, these textbooks have by and large functioned as handbooks to produce patriotic, socially responsible young American citizens. By following this goal, these books fail to convey a realistic picture of the past, instead electing to show what popular society deems they should. Some would argue that this propaganda is reasonable -- that it seeks to inspire young people to take pride in their heritage and emulate ideal heroes. However, misrepresentation that indoctrinates young people with patriotism propagates a "happy-face" version of history, creates historical figures too good to be true, and, frankly, lies to students. In both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, textbook manufacturers skillfully twisted subject matter to laud their respective nations and spread their ideology. Though we may wish to believe otherwise, this practice resides much closer to home as well -- as a 1942 Office of War Information poster put it, "Books are weapons in the war of ideas!" Textbooks, which today dictate the majority of elementary and high school classroom activities, provide a conduit for propaganda that is unique to American youth. History classes are especially susceptible. Often, inside the covers of thick history tomes, America and its heroes are nearly flawless. Mistakes, disputes, and anything that might inspire debate are largely glossed over or ignored. Above it all, a distant voice assures students that what they are reading is the absolute truth. Take the case of President Woodrow Wilson, for example. Today, many history texts laud him as a champion of women's suffrage, the reluctant hero of World War I, and a staunch proponent of the League of Nations. However, most textbooks never hint at his significant role in the military intervention of foreign countries or his beliefs in racial segregation. James Loewen's 1995 survey of twelve history textbooks failed to find any mention of Wilson's secret aid to Russian anti-communist forces in 1917, even though this was far from a minor event -- the Soviet Union demanded reparations for the damages incurred for the next seventy-odd years. Furthermore, textbooks often assume a passive voice concerning the president's very active position on invading Latin American countries, thus insulating him from the fault. History textbooks speak even less about Wilson's outspoken belief in white supremacy. Wilson effectively segregated the federal government, leaving some parts to remain that way until beyond the 1950s. The trickles of racism from the White House encouraged a newly rekindled Ku Klux Klan. In spite of all this, most textbooks adhere to nationalistic "heroification" and show President Wilson spot-free. Helen Keller receives similar treatment. Elementary-school textbooks wax poetic about the blind and deaf girl whose overcoming the odds should provide inspiration for us all. About her later life, though, they are largely mute -- perhaps because, as a 2000 article in the journal Disability & Society reveals, she committed herself to socialism, praised the newly formed communist Soviet Union, and marched in demonstrations for progressive reform. Indeed, she would have likely vehemently disagreed with the sentiment that most textbooks ascribe to her story: that is, that anyone could succeed if only he worked hard. She wrote, In general, textbooks make no mention that Keller advocated for the poor, actively participated in the Industrial Workers of the World, and helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. In most texts, Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson, and many other figures from history are portrayed as rather featureless, banally positive personages -- or plainly lied about. On the whole, history texts never mention that Paul Revere would have almost certainly been forgotten but for Longfellow's well-known poem; that Alexander Graham Bell may have stolen some of his research for the telephone; or, that Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech was patched together 41 years later from the memory and imagination of other people. The sum total of an overly optimistic attitude toward United States history creates an atmosphere in which Americans are at all times tolerant, productive, rational, amicable, and in general indistinguishable by any trait out of the ordinary. The question now becomes whether this propaganda in schools is justified; the answer is an emphatic no. Nationalistic propaganda in textbooks is perceived to engender good citizenship, but may result in the opposite effect. Excluding or evading the various slipups of the United States propagates a "Disney version" of history; children depart classrooms with no realistic expectations of what may occur. When real life doesn't go according to the fairytale story, many may wonder what they have done wrong. Are they acting un-American for this to result? In a similar manner, American personages are stripped of their humanness to become rather dull heroes. Like the statue of George Washington in the Smithsonian Institution, American figures from history are portrayed as impossibilities. Instead of recounting their imperfections and leaving their accomplishments to speak for themselves, textbooks deny students the chance to look up to realistic heroes. Surely, President Wilson doesn't need flattering omissions: his progressive legislation, which established the Federal Reserve Act and an income tax, among other things, is almost unmatched, even today. Revealing Helen Keller's later life might give flesh and blood to a "pretentious symbol that is too good to be real," as Loewen calls her. We seem to operate under the assumption that heroes can only remain so if they are uncontroversial and one-dimensional. Then again, this leads to more problems -- discounting Wilson's racism, for example, absolves him within the covers of textbooks, right under the nose of every non-white reader. However, quibbling over results may cause us to miss the point; even if propaganda in textbooks did churn out strong American citizens, covert lies within historical accounts would continue to be wrong. Propagandistic education persuades children not to think critically about their society, but merely to believe in its intrinsic goodness. We strongly object to propagandists treating us like sheep, but are content to allow impressionable young children to learn history at the whim of popular society. The "truth" becomes marketable, controlled by what will sell. Perplexingly enough, though, the fault for the continuance of this propaganda lies at least partly with us, the American public. For a country whose children's minds are stagnated in history classes taught by flavorless quasi-fictions, radical change is required. Every generation is taught the societal interpretations of history of its time, only to see the ostensibly constant "truth" change later on. The current propaganda taught in history classrooms is neither ethical nor useful, and it is a poor example to be setting to the inheritors of our imperfect society. It's time that our textbooks enable our students to learn both the good and bad of American history, to handle the inevitable mistakes that come from living in the real world.