Saturday, September 8, 2007
To teach or not to teach...that is the question
I was curious and wanted to see other views and opinions on this topic. What should be taught in school about "the truth of Columbus"? We were given this information and where do we go from here? Should we incorporate this into the curriculum. I feel that we can let students know that there are many different sides to a story, but should we teach them this side? If we should teach this other side then when? Primary? Intermediate? I had many questions on this topic after reading the chapter and want to see others' opinions.
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11 comments:
I feel that this is a very touchy subject. I feel that teaching more then one side to a story is always a good thing, but what should we be allowed to teach is the question. The other side to the Columbus story talks about so many things that may not be appropriate to discuss with students. It also is hard to teach students a negative side to a story on which we celebrate a holiday for. I also feel that this side of the Clomubus story has never been taught in schools becuase it can be a very debated topic. So, I feel that it might almost be right to keep the Columbus story as a one side story to students in school. However, when it comes to other topics I feel that they should be well researched before teaching. The more the teacher knows about the topic being taught, the more persepectives they can bring in. I think that it is best for students to see more then one side to every story. This keeps students from becoming bias about a topic. Another factor that is hard to deal with, is what age it is appropriate to start talking about all the different perspectives. I think that it is almost better to hold off until the intermediate grades. This way students will be able to really discuss and compare and contrast the differences in the stories that they have heard. You always just have to be careful in schools now a days on what you teach, so it is always better to teacher all sides so that no one becomes offended and so that students know that the world didn't change in the eyes of just one group of people...'the european whites'.
I feel that elementary school students are quite capable of handling the "true story of Christopher Columbus." We as teachers are not left alone to figure out how to introduce touchy subjects to our students. In the case of Christopher Columbus, there are a number of great picture books out there that introduce the other side of the story. The one book that I can think of off the top of my head is Jane Yolen's Encounter. Here's the Amazon.com link for it: http://www.amazon.com/Encounter-Voyager-Books-Jane-Yolen/dp/015201389X/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0492568-9923841?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189353996&sr=8-1
It tells the story in such a way that it is easily accessible to younger readers/listeners. I don't think that we as educators need to shy away from difficult subjects because they are difficult. Obviously there are some aspects of historical events that we are not going to discuss with primary-grade students, but we should definitely not sugarcoat things. I feel that too often teachers underestimate exactly how much students can comprehend. There are a number of age-appropriate ways to discuss various controversial topics, and I believe that bringing in age-level appropriate literature can certainly help teachers in discussing these topics. Then, as students become older and more mature, discussion of historical events can continue to deepen so that instead of just omitting information, consecutive grade level teachers can build on and deepen the student's understanding of these events.
I agree with Melissa that teaching is a very touchy subject when it comes to controversial topics. However, the feeling I had when reading for our class was a terrible feeling. I felt that I was lied to about my country's history and about Columbus. I think a lot of people would have a problem telling both sides to the Columbus story because it does give "the founder" a really gruesome image. Truth or not, a lot of people only like to hear certain things. I personally would have liked to hear about the truth and was very shocked that it took over 12 years of schooling for me to find out. I also agree with the second post. I feel that there are many more debates that can be given to older students. Maybe one debate could be about why students feel that teachers withheld this information, or the other side of the story, from students in Elementary school.
I agree Jane Yolen's "The Encounter" is a great book to show elementary-aged students "the other side" of the native people's encounters with the first Europeans in an appropriate manner. It describes the culture of the natives well, as Yolen and the illustrator worked to make the entire book as historically accurate as they could. I like how this book specifically exemplifies one tribe (I can't think of the name off-hand) because not all native people are alike. The myths/stereotypes/perceptions of an "Indian" could be introduced and discussed using this book as an example of one tribe. Other resources would be a great addition to this lesson to help students further learn about past and present Native American life.
I'm glad this question came up. It's one we're going to delve into in more detail during our next class. Are first or second graders ready to hear the "truth" about Columbus, or would it be too upsetting? And if we decide they're not ready, should we teach about Columbus at all? Is it right to perpetuate a myth, or even a lie, and pass it off as history? And if we think they are ready, how do we approach the topic in an understandable, age-appropriate way?
These questions are not only relevant to Columbus, of course. We could ask them about any number of historical events or social issues. Are young children ready to talk about racial issues? How about slavery? Or the real story of Thanksgiving? We'll look at some possible sample lessons and talk about whether or not they're apprpriate during our next class.
I like what all of you have been saying. This is a very hard topic. Okay, I am sure this makes the most sense in my mind, and it is in a very simplistic term but I am going to share the thoughts I have on the topic of to teach or not to teach. I feel like it is important to inform students at a young age about all forms of history. Maybe not about the Holocaust in Kindergarten 1st or 2nd grade, but I think it is important to introduce them to certain parts of our history. And as I stated in another entry, at this age I think it is okay to sugar coat parts of history just to introduce many important historical events. By middle school students are able to handle more intense information, by High School they can handle even more information, and by college most people have been introduced or educated on many different aspects of a certain event in history.
I think there are many different ways to intertwine important events in curriculum at all different age levels. But as a human you should always be aware of your audience. For example, I am student teaching in a second grade classroom and on September 11th our school wore red white and blue to remember 9-11-01 and to be patriotic. My teacher and I took the time to explain or briefly touch upon the events that took place September 11th 2001. We started by explaining what Patriotic means, and then we went onto explaining that there are some people in the world that are very angry. We are not sure why these people, "terrorists" act this way, but they took out their anger on the United States by crashing some planes. It was a sad day many lives were lost and that is why September 11th is a day we will never forget. Then we read the book, "September 12th Everything Will be Okay Because..." or something along those lines, by a 1st grade class(sorry I don't remember the title) and I thought our mini-history-lesson was not too graphic but beneficially informational. To be honest I was nervous explaining this historic event to second graders but I think my teacher did it in a very tasteful way that introduced some students to this part of history and clearly informed others.
I guess what I am trying to say is that when teaching, I think it is important to introduce students at all different age levels to history. But to always keep in mind who your audience is. If it is a primary grade you might have to introduce someone as a historical hero like Cristopher Columbus and as students get older share the book Encounter (great book!) and as students get even older make them have a debate and really focus on both sides of the story (when they are ready to get controversial), and even older (us or high school maybe) introduce them to Howard Zinn.
In the primary years of school history may be a little skewed, but it should alwyas be introduced or briefly explained. As time progresses for the students I think it is important to introduce and inform all sides of the spectrum.
I agree with what many of you said. I think that it is a sensitive subject, as well as with many other events. During elementary school I remember learning about how Columbus was very honorable and a great man. When I learned about the "truth" I was also taken aback and disappointed that I had essentially been lied to and that there was another side to the story. I remember thinking, "Why would they even discuss it at all if they were just going to lie to us." I realize that there are different levels of appropriateness and the material we cover should be geared to what what we are teaching, but I do not believe we should "sugarcoat" things. I think we can make the material more age appropriate by using literature for that grade level and not going into the issues extremely deeply. We can touch on the truth and begin to explain it to the younger children without sugarcoating it, but with telling the truth and allowing for more in depth analysis and interpretation to be developed in the older grades. We also need to talk about why we do celebrate the holiday, so multiple perspectives can be taken. I think that if done appropriately, students of these younger grade levels can learn on a different level about the different sides to the story. They can begin to delve deeper into these issues as they progress through the grades. Students in young grades are reading The True Story of The Three Little Pigs, which is a good way to start a lesson or conversation about how there is more than one side to a story and how we need to be aware of this and learn about it. I believe students should all be taught true information, appropriate for their grade level and that they are capable, through proper guidance and support to see the different sides of history. The details of the killings during this time period can be left out, but students can learn about how they did not get along and still learn the lessons of history. History is all about us learning so it is not repeated, so young children can learn a lesson about respect of other cultures and different perspectives through these types of lessons. I am looking forward to looking at the sample lessons that Greg mentioned, to look at and analyze how other teachers have dealt with this topic in the classroom and what we can learn and take into our own.
You all have great answers to this touchy topic. Since everyone seems to disagree with some aspect of another person's view, I believe this is why teachers only teach the "good" things about Columbus. When teachers begin teaching the truth to children, children may lose faith in Columbus and not be able to see his great accomplishments. Teachers want to keep teaching simple, and have students learn to trust what books have to say. By teaching the other side of the story of Columbus, I would think students would begin to doubt all the textbooks they read. Although this is not a bad thing, it could turn into a problem when it's primary grades. I think students should be taught to trust the books they read when they are in lower grades. Once they reach intermediate levels, teachers should introduce the "other side of the story." Any grade level below this would be too much information for students to handle. What I'm tyring to say is, teachers should teach the other side of the story to older students. The lower grades are not capable of taking in both sides of the story along with still keeping the respect of what textbooks are writing. That "candy-coated" story of Columbus in textbooks is necessary for the lower grades in order for them to have some facts "cemented" into their memory. I do not believe they could "cement" both sides of the story into their memory at such a young age, and be able to internalize it.
I agree with what most of you have posted about Columbus. I thought an interesting point was made about younger children trusting text books. While I feel students in the primary grade should trust text books to a certain extent, they should also question what they read. I want students to ask questions and be curious about the topics we may be covering in class. In this case, I would want students to ask questions about Columbus. If they do not agree with something in the text, I want them to look to outside sources.
I also agree that we should teach the truth about Columbus to both primary and intermediate grades. I feel younger students should learn the truth about Columbus, but little by little. As the students progress in age, they should learn more and more information about the subject. I would hate for any student to reach the high school or college level and just learn about the truth of Columbus! (Cause just like a post before me, I first learned about the truth after reading these articles/chapters.)
I think that it is important that we talk with our students about the truth. It would not be fair to teach them one very biased side of the Columbus story when we have all of this evidence giving proof that he was not such a great guy! I believe that the truth can be taught starting in the primary grades, however, there is an appropriate way to approach this without overwhelming the students. They do not need all of the grusome details at this age, just the big picture. As they get older and are able to challenge ideas and theories, I think these students deserve to know the whole truth. In my mentor's fifth grade class, they were curiously angry when she talked with them about the true story of Columbus. Students need to know stereotypes exist and how to deal with them.
After reading these posts and our discussion during class I think most of us believe students have a right to know the truth about our history. However, I think it is hard to know when students are ready to know. Before taking a college level history class I never knew the truth about Columbus. Once I discovered the lies I was told I was outraged! It is still hard for me to fully grasp the truth because the falseness of Christopher Columbus has been ingrained into me.
I feel students should be introduced to the truth gradually starting when Columbus is first introduced. There is no denying he plays an important part of our history so we must acknowledge him, however showing the other side is just as important. In first grade this may be as simple as reading The Encounter to your students along with their history texts. At least this gives their minds an opportunity to say "wait, these don't match", then they will be able to form questions themselves.
I believe students in middle and high school should be introduced to the truth at a deeper level. As their education continues students are able to handle more and more. It is our responsibility to teach our history no matter how unhappy is was.
I think we don't give students enough credit as to what they are able to handle. Yes, first graders are sensitive, however if we think exposing them to the fact that Columbus kills Indians will be too traumatizing we should think about what students are exposed to on television everyday. Students are able to understand and handle more than we think, therefore we should not sugar coat our history for them.
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