America Is Due for a Major History Education Reform

Annabelle Langford

SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA—In my English class this year, I read the most relevant book I’ve ever been assigned in the American public school system: Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime. While much of this book touched on systemic racism and childhood during the aftermath of Apartheid, one quote from this book stuck with me regarding the way in which history is taught: “In Germany, no child finishes high school without learning about the Holocaust. Not just the facts of it but the how and the why and the gravity of it - what it means. As a result, Germans grow up appropriately aware and apologetic. British schools treat colonialism the same way, to an extent. Their children are taught the history of the Empire with a kind of disclaimer hanging over the whole thing...In America, the history of racism is taught like this: ‘There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr., and now it’s done.’” As I read this, it struck me. This is entirely true, and entirely wrong. I knew of course that there were many things wrong with the education system in America and that there were certain things we like to simply gloss over when teaching the next generations of what happened generations before, but not until this year, reading this book, and understanding how relevant this was, did I understand the gravity of the situation at hand. We, as students in America, are taught history through a very narrow lens. We are taught history from an objective perspective, with no bias, no opinions, out of fear the students will be “politically influenced” by their teachers and their learnings. Because of this fear, we as students are very rarely taught to think critically about historical events. We never ask why, and we never say “What if?”.

Early this year, before the transfer of power, former President Trump released the 1776 Commission. This report, which has widely been criticized, aimed to change the face of history education, but instead of making it more focused on critical thinking, it pushed conservative ideals more than American history ever has. It intended to further gloss over the not-so-pretty parts of American history, and even blatantly cover some of them up. While Trump is no longer President, and this report was never enacted, its ideas are still overwhelmingly praised. 

As students, what are we taught? In my experience in public school history classes, there is one recurring theme and thought constantly forced into the minds of students: regardless of America’s dark past, the United States is the best country in the world. While many of us can see the flaws in this statement, the knowledge by which we notice the flaws, however, most likely did not come from a history class. If you are like me, you probably discovered it on your own. We are briefly taught about the mistakes America has made. Racism, homophobia, and sexism within the system are issues rarely talked about. We are primarily taught to focus on the “good things” in American History: the underdog story and defeating the British Empire; gaining land as a young country, not the mass displacement of Native Americans that came with it; we are taught only the good, but not its systemically prejudiced and long-standing implications. Instead, we should be taught the effects of decisions; we should be taught all of the facts, be allowed to ask questions, and encouraged to form an opinion. 

I’ve made my way through private Christian schools and public schools alike during my past years of schooling. I’ve had both good and bad teachers, taken easy and extremely difficult history courses, and seen firsthand the way American education can impact us as people and work to help us develop our political opinions. This year was definitely a turning point in my knowledge of the way history was taught in America. Last summer, the Black Lives Matter movement prompted me to learn about anti-racism, further research American history, and question what I previously had been taught. After returning from summer break and starting history class again, I noticed myself being acutely aware of what I was being taught. A few things stood out to me the most: firstly, the idea of “Manifest Destiny” that ripped through America in the mid 19th century--the idea that God wanted Americans to expand westward--struck me as questionable. The wars we raged and the forced removal of Native Americans from their homeland were taught as ‘necessary’ when they were anything but. Secondly, when being taught about the Civil War era, my teacher enforced this idea that Confederate leaders were doing what they had to and that the Civil war was fought just over “state’s rights”. Lastly, we are not often taught about the Civil Rights Movements of the 20th Century even though they were pivotal to understanding contemporary politics. Having witnessed a civil rights movement just a month prior, it made me angry to realize that my school’s history curriculum was teaching history in a way it should absolutely not be taught. Not only did my teacher gloss over certain facts, but he never prompted us to think critically about the consequences of historical events in today’s society. 

Through this recognition, I began to ask myself why we are not taught differently, and again I was struck by a thought: we are taught objectively because the government does not want us to be “politically influenced”. They do not want us to have enough information to form an opinion; the government believes that children shouldn’t have an opinion because we are simply too young. Teaching a skewed version of the truth, however, is significantly more dangerous than encouraging teenagers to form authentic and fact-based opinions.

We should start presenting the genuine truth, not whitewashing it. As a student, I feel I have not been given a fair chance to thoroughly understand our country and form fully developed opinions. My current understanding of American History has been primarily formed as a result of my own interest in the real United States history, not from (the lack of) information presented in a classroom setting. Older generations constantly push the notion of preparing their prosperity for the future; to do so, we must engage in a comprehensive reform of history education in the United States. We must be encouraged to ask questions, prompted to delve deeper into our complex history, regardless of how dark, and never instructed to believe in American superiority before learning the facts.