People need to stop trying to rewrite history
The last legal forced sterilization of an American occurred in 1981. For years, our country sterilized innocent people who were seen as “unfit” for the community, such as certain felons or handicapped people under the idea of Eugenics. Many people are not aware this horrendous practice ever took place, because a lot of America’s history has been hidden, forgotten or simply never been taught to students.
Conservatives on the Texas Board of Education want to further sanitize history with the creation of textbooks that eliminate the negative events in America’s past, and even suggest Moses created democracy. The new textbooks, created by major publishing companies, presents a slanted view of history that is damaging to a student’s education.
A similar proposal from a school board to rewrite history to be more positive is causing a stir in Denver, as hundreds of students walked out last Tuesday to protest. These students are not the only ones to disagree with changing the past. Teachers, scholars, liberals and conservatives all believe these new textbooks and the board proposal have taken it way too far.
According to the Huffington Post, the Texas textbooks suggest, “segregated schools weren’t too bad, Affirmative Action recipients are un-American, taxes for social programs haven’t improved society, and that Moses inspired American democracy.”
With all these facts laid out, it is easy to see why so many are protesting vocally and in the streets. Taking away students’ knowledge is fundamentally wrong. They attend school to learn and should not only be taught the accomplishments of America, but of the country’s failures as well. This allows students to begin to understand the roots America and see how far it has come today.
After hearing that important stories from our history could be dropped because they seem to portray America in a bad light, I couldn’t help but think of a story I once overheard.
A person was having a discussion with a German exchange student. They were discussing the Holocaust. The exchange student became quite defensive when the topic was brought up, and even went as far as to say that the Holocaust never took place. Americans could become defensive about such tender topics as well, if we are not allowed to learn and fully comprehend past events.
Furthermore, whatever happened to the separation of church and state? Reviews of these new textbooks discuss many events with a pro-religious slant. Declaring Moses as the founder of democracy is not only incorrect, but goes against Constitutional history.
It is important to understand this is not the first or the only time this has happened in America. Throughout history, America has obscure facts about past events that would shock most of us. Hardly any know about Japanese Internment Camps, or about Eugenics, which was the idea that only people who possessed desired traits should reproduce.
Both the edited textbooks and the school board’s proposal need to be swiftly rejected. If students learn revised versions of history, then the risk of more historical lessons fading into obscurity grows. And no one benefits from forgetting the mistakes of the past.
Emily Lowe can be reached at [email protected]