How much do you believe your history books from school.?

Question

How much is: purposely written incorrectly, opinionated/altered, accidentally incorrect, etc...

Answer 1

Somewhat, I would say 60/40. Remember the victors write the histories. Also, at the precollege level, and even some in college and university, the history is very sanitized and all the warts are removed from people deemed by the government to be heroes. In the same way, the stupidity of generals or admirals is seldom revealed when battles are lost, and a lot of blatant criminal activity, like the treatment of blacks and Native Americans, is totally obscured. If one is a serious student of history it is better for one to research original documents, when available. I must say that documentaries on cable TV, like the History Channel and History International, do seem to present much more truthful accounts of the past now, but I am unaware that textbooks have changed any. Remember, at certain levels the purpose of education is to create "good" citizens, i.e. ones who believe and support the government of whatever country they are in and to maintain the status quo.

Answer 2

History is a science that , like most other sciences, is based on evidende and interpretation of documented facts. History school text books have the difficult task of presenting a subject matter that is extremely complex and has many facets in a simplified way, so that the past can be formed into a narrative chain of cause and effects that can be understood by the student. Sometimes new facts may come to light that change the interpretation of past events or invalidate them. In that case the facts would have been incorrect through ignorance and an innocent mistake.
When history is deliberately misrepresented or presented in a way that its favorable to a certain party it is often due to political reasons, ( In Japanese textbooks for example, Japan's role in the pacific war was for a long time deliberately ommited, partly on pressure of the political right wing )
But the more serious problem of history textbooks is not incorrectness but the selection of events. For a long time, history text books only included what was been documented by written documents, and therefore ignored the long oral tradition of indigineous peoples in America or African tribes, or the history of women who had no role in public life.
Another flaw of history textbooks is that mostly tell the history from the point of view of the home country, and therefore much of the history of other cultures and countries is never learned.

Answer 3

There are always going to be errors in any book, no matter how carefully edited. On the other hand, history texts rarely lie, at least not on purpose. They do tend to be cheerleading material rather than anything to think about until you get to your mid-level college courses, but that you should take as a challenge. If you see a phrase like "there were problems" in a text, your automatic response should be to want to know what problems and why. American History classes in high school tend to avoid making anything our country has ever done look as if it were done with the best of intentions, and good things tend to be attributed to government intervention, when in fact government leadership is usually a matter of politicians leading by running to the front of the parade. Once you understand the role of the texts, you'll be less disillusioned and can use them as a guideline to research on your own, so you can learn some real history.

Answer 4

well definitely nothing is 100% correct. take it from today news, if there was a tragedy or a terrorist act, different TV networks give u different number of victims or hostages so what do you think if the same happened 400 years ago. The history work available today is the closest to the truth but not 100 % accurate. The only exceptions I will make to that are the three holy books of Jews, Christians and Muslims. I Believe they are all true

Answer 5

Learning history is in itself is an art. This is because the history in a text book, is based on the opinion of that author or publisher. The best way to get around this is to read as much about history, from as many different sources as possible, and then form your own opinions and beliefs about what happened in the past..


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Answer 6

Its all about propoganda. To show that your country was doing the correct thing. This happens not only in textbooks but in the news as well. If it reflects some wrongdoing by a country, it will surely be filtered out of that countries news. Yet to be later told that the certain contry that was right was wrong. Sometimes its to help bring up popularity to go to war, or to vote for a certain change. You can't rely on your textbooks for the exact truth, you have to research it. Yet, you can't be a skeptic for every event. You have to find the definite thin line between both.

Answer 7

well it is hard to say, when we are kids we all believe what ever
the books and the teachers are saying, well we have no other choice, right LOL.
but then when we grow up by seeing or hearing things from here and there then we question our self, o boy was it the whole truth or not.

then if we are one of those kind that we must see a document, or proof then we search and search till we get the correct or right answers.

back home in Iran when i was watching American and Indian moves I always told myself wow those Indians are really savages. but then when i came here i have realized how wrong i was, and since i found out this is one incident then they must be other lies and propaganda's.

there for i did go to libraries and read and read and i am ashame to say what ever i knew before it was all lies, now i know well at list i know that no history book will ever tell the whole truth ever.

Answer 8

History is written by the winners, and as such, has a bias. My own independent research has shown that there are many, many inaccuracies in history books which are taught as facts. A good place to start would be this book: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (Paperback) by James W. Loewen. You can find this on Amazon.com. It costs about $11 new and it sells for less money used. This book was an eyeopener to me and started my quest for the truth. It covers American history, but there are many other books available on this subject, and for different countries' histories. I bought a copy for myself and have passed it on to friends who were interested. Good luck!

Answer 9

It depends on the author and there political affiliation as they are going to lean the history books to favor there view of history. For example Abraham Lincoln use to be taught as a great president who helped to free the slaves. Now in many circles it is being taught that he did not do enough and only did what he could within the bounds of his party. History revisionist Liberal and Conservative have been trying for years to write history to support there agenda.

Answer 10

I've been out of school for 35 years, and half the history I learned back then is not the way it's presented in the current school books. I think the slant on the stories depends on who's in control of education. Only recently did schools start including Black History; they still don't include Native American History (geez, I wonder why?)