Hello, Canadians and Americans...?

Question

What were you taught about your country's history?

Were you taught about all of the good things and none of the bad?

I had to take a special course (Liberal Arts 11) to learn about the entirety of Canadian history as opposed to smiles and victory.

Can you guess where this picture was taken?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/LizzieVanZyl.jpg

No? It looks like something the Nazis did, doesn't it?

But it is, in fact, a child who died in a British concentration camp in the Second Boer War. I need an answer from a highschool grad on whether or not they were taught about the atrocities committed during the Boer war by the British and their Canadian allies.

And Americans...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phillipines.gif

The Phillipine war... Again, a highschool grad from America; were you taught about this?


I don't know about your education, but it seems to me that a lot of the "bad stuff" has been left out.

So, were you taught a balanced history course in highschool, or was it just all smiles and good things?

I mean, we aren't as bad as a lot of other countries, but wouldn't it be better if students were presented with superior history lessons?

Answer 1

I was not taught enough about my own country, and had to learn what I know about history, in particular Military History, on my own. Yes, I have read about the Anglo-Boer War, and Britain's use of blockhouses and concentration camps. Yes, I have also read about the Americans in the Philippines too.

Of course a lot of the "bad stuff" was left out - and so was the "good stuff." What high school in Canada or the U.S. will teach Military History that includes the Anglo-Boer War, the Philippine War, etc? Since the late 1960s -1970s, much of what was taught in Canadian schools and American schools regarding war was clearly pacifist - every war was (and is) "bad stuff."

I understand your point, but I know in the future the "bad stuff" will continue to be left out, for the same reasons it was left out before: it doesn't all fit in a school's History curriculum, Military History will never be taught separately in high schools, objective materials (without any pacifist bias) to teach such History have not been prepared for high school curriculums yet, and lastly the students (and their parents) themselves will surely object to studying about atrocities in South Africa, and the Philippines, etc.

I agree with Thought - today there is much scholarly research, including Military History, that is being written by objective, credible historians. It is no longer just written by "the victors."

Answer 2

I was lucky enough to have gone to school in many places through out the United States. Yes, we were taught about the good the bad and the Ugly parts of our history. I was in a Navy family, so we moved around a lot.
I think more today than ever, some of the *bad* is being left out and just the *good* parts are being taught. We should make sure that our children and grandchildren take advantage of the public library to read and learn on their own, a little more about what is in our past.

Answer 3

Actually, I happened to grow up in the United States when it was rather fashionable to point out America's mistakes. I can't remember if I was specifically taught about the Philippine War in High School (I know about it but that might have been from college), I do recall learning about how the U.S. gave small pox blankets to Native Americans, the Trail of Tears, how the U.S. essentially started an unprovoked war with Mexico to take more land (or, indeed, how America had the habit of provoking our enemies to attack first so we could claim the defensive), how the U.S. too had internment camps, and let us not forget McCarthy and the Red Scare. We were taught about how the American Civil War and WWI were wonderful for the development of prosthetics and plastic surgery... out of necessity due to soldier mutilations.

So, at least in my day, a great deal of the "bad stuff" was put in.

Edit: As a side note, History is not written "by the victors." I mean seriously, who won the invention of the Printing Press or the development of crop rotation?! Rather, history is written with the mindset of the present age; that women in Roman times were absent from the histories of the 1850's shows the 1850's perception of women and is not an implication that men somehow at battle with women and won. That women in Roman times are now present in histories from the 2000's is not an indication that somehow women rose up in revolt and defeated men.

Answer 4

People talk a lot about the "culture war" going on in this country right now. Can you imagine the outrage from the "heartland" and bible belt of America, from veterans and their families, and many more Americans if they found that their children were being taught that Americans are evil (by doing evil things)? It would only further the outcry that the American education system is too liberal. Teachers would lose their jobs and elementary school administrators would not allow this type of curriculum anyhow. There is just too much politics involved in the process of teaching this type of material to students.
Also, there is too much of a focus in this country on reaching goals on standardized tests. You will not see this material on those tests. Also, history courses in high school are far too general to actually get into analysis of good and evil and the human condition. You might briefly discuss this in Advanced Placement history courses. You would be more likely to find this type of topic at the university/collegiate level.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

I was born just after WWII, so when I was in school, the teacher was the boss and independent thinking was non-existent. No, we were "protected" and the bad parts weren't even published in our school books. It is sad, but atrocities happened in history (and are still happening today), and no mention was ever made of them. And it is sad my generation only got a one-sided look at history - no balance between the good and the bad. History should teach both sides - good vs bad. My minor in college was history - what an eye-opener that was. We all must remember that the "good guys" performed atrocities also, as shown in your link to wikipedia.

Answer 6

I was taught some of the bad, but not the REALLY bad stuff. I was taught basics about slavery and prisoners of war, but for the most part, it was all happy and smiles.

Basically, it feels like they only showed the bare minimum of the bad.

And it couldn't be because I was too young or something, because a lot of horrible Nazi pictures and such were shown. Not to compare the bad stuff we did to Nazis, but that's the best comparison of the bad I was shown of others, as compared to the bad shown that we did.

I was even shown Schindler's (spelling?) List in eight grade. Uncut and all.

I'm American, by the way, and I'm 1st year high school.

Answer 7

In general history is written by the victory and that allows the "bad" things you mention to slip through the cracks. For the most part we learn about the good stuff. I know for me (Canadian) we were told about the bad stuff but only lightly in relation to the good stuff. ie chinese head tax and death of chinese in building the railroad. But the railroad was a great acheivement.

The main thing that I was taught in History class (I went to a very liberal high school) was that the study of history is the uncovering of truth and there are many sides to every story.

Answer 8

Since you are a Canadian I'll give you a pass. But in the US the Spanish-American War (conquest of the Philippians) was a minor skirmish and wasn't given a lot of coverage in school.

However, the Civil War and Indian Wars were. There were plenty of "bad" things taught there.

Don't be so smug kid.

Answer 9

A superior knowledge of history should allow us to prevent repeating the mistakes of the past. In theory...
In the U.S. we are taught about the war in the Philippines...to an extent.
Unfortunately, the atrocities of war are seldom discussed.

Answer 10

Well, for one I never heard about the Japanese and
German "concentration camps" that were run in the
US, nor the theft of Japanese-American property
(Akin to Nazi with the Jews), until I was considerably older and reading some "other" History than that offeered in my H.S. Did hear about "drunken Ira Hayes", but not the
Navajo talkers that had a lot of positive influence in WWII.


Our leadership knows what's best for us ?