Greetings! Welcome to my first post to this blog. However you ended up here, I hope I entertain you with this little project of mine. I'm in a grad program to become a teacher, and have created an independent study course (with my favorite professor from the U of MN-Morris) about political research & analysis....specifically, researching and analyzing the politics of textbooks. It sounds a little wonky, I know. But just think about it....textbook content is powerful stuff. If you don't believe me, take it from this Texas school board member with an "orthodox Christian worldview". Seriously, this clip is amazing/frightening...he's done things like elevate Jefferson Davis as an equal of Abraham Lincoln, and claim that Sen. Joe McCarthy's communist witch hunts have been exonerated by history. Yowzas.
I mean, really. I totally get that people have different beliefs, and that is a-okay by me as long as we can all be adults about it. Clearly this Texas school board dude is not on board the grownup train. Someone needs to teach him the sandbox rules, especially the one about how just because you believe something doesn't mean you get to claim it as fact. Seriously, you can't. My girlfriend and I have had that fight, like when I really *believe* that I was the last one to take out the garbage but she really *believes* that she was. We've done the legwork for you. (Just don't tell him that we're gay--I'm pretty sure that doesn't fit into his "orthodox Christian worldview".)
One of the books I'm reading for my independent study is "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen. My friend Joey recommended it, and I'm so glad he did--so far I'm loving it. One of the things that Loewen observes that really strikes me is that college history professors think that high school history classes are just bunk--they actually have to un-teach the bad history that students know from high school before that can start teaching actual history. How ridiculous!
When I'm a social studies (history/geography/global studies) teacher, I want to do right by my students--not only by providing them with good texts, but by teaching them to be critical thinkers...to explore nuances and complexities and wrestle with big issues and all those other lofty goals that I'm sure all new teachers have. (My glasses are not completely rose-tinted...I fully realize that I'll be molding young minds in between dealing with things like stolen iPods and mean texts and smoking in the bathroom and all that other fun stuff that happens in middle/high school).
Obviously figuring out what's in textbooks and how it got there is super relevant to me, and I think it's fascinating. Rather than keep all the stuff I'm learning to myself, I'm putting it here--just in case you think it's cool too. If you've got any thoughts/questions, comment away!
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