Lies My Teacher Told Me
I'm currently reading a book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me". It's premise is to evaluate how history is taught in High School. The author's view....a failing grade. I plan to write a longer post later, but in the meantime I came across this from Rod Dreher's blog commenting on an article in USA Today:
The argument is that our education system has become as PC as our culture "increasingly emphasizes the stories of Americans who are not necessarily dead, white or male." So my question to you is, excluding Presidents and First Ladies, who are your Top 5 American historical figures? Quick don't think too long about it. Mine are as follows:
1) Paul Revere
2) Thomas Edison
3) MLK
4) Neil Armstrong
5) Charles Lindberg
Leave yours in the comments!
Asked to name the most famous Americans in history, high school
students put 20th-century black Americans in the top three slots. Here
are the top 10, with the percentage who chose each:
1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67%
2. Rosa Parks: 60%
3. Harriet Tubman: 44%
4. Susan B. Anthony: 34%
5. Benjamin Franklin: 29%
6. Amelia Earhart: 25%
7. Oprah Winfrey: 22%
8. Marilyn Monroe: 19%
9. Thomas Edison: 18%
10. Albert Einstein: 16%
The argument is that our education system has become as PC as our culture "increasingly emphasizes the stories of Americans who are not necessarily dead, white or male." So my question to you is, excluding Presidents and First Ladies, who are your Top 5 American historical figures? Quick don't think too long about it. Mine are as follows:
1) Paul Revere
2) Thomas Edison
3) MLK
4) Neil Armstrong
5) Charles Lindberg
Leave yours in the comments!
1. Lincoln - it took a lot of courage to go to war to keep the union together, but had he not done it the country would not be the same today.
2. Edison - He so fundamentally changed how we live that we don't even notice.
3. MLK - Had the courage to point out the sinfulness of our way of life.
4. FDR - His leadership in WWII was brilliant and necessary, but his leadership during the depression fundamentally and badly changed how we view the role of government.
5. Jefferson - Declaration of Independence, Louisiana purchase, Lewis and Clark - He did too much to mention.
Hmm... 4 out of 5 are dead white males. You can tell I went to school before the 90's.
Reply to this
Who would they be if you excluded Presidents?
Reply to this
I don't know. When I picked them, I knew I was leaning too much toward presidents, but it's hard not too. Let's see...
1. Robert E. Lee - could have prolonged the civil war by waging guerilla warfare (he considered it as an option), and seriously damaged the country. Instead, he told his soldiers to go home.
2. MLK Again.
3. Thomas Edison again.
4. Henry Ford - revolutionized industry.
5. Jack Welch - the beginning of the transnational megacorporation, ushering in globalization.
Reply to this
Hmm... I just realized how many of them were capitalist pigs. I may need to think about it some more.
Reply to this