In school, I always wondered why is such and such not covered in the social studies textbook, after all the event happened within my lifetime (for example, 9/11). Teachers always provided the answer that "we just haven't gotten new textbooks yet." After reading Loewen's Chapter 10, "Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of Recent Past," it becomes apparent that although the publishing date of a text determines the current topic it covers; however, the more current a topic is, the less controversial it becomes...or at least in a textbook.
Teachers are often stressed about teaching social studies because of the chance of offending students' parents different viewpoints. This especially applies when talking about current events. Teachers, students, and parents often have varying views on current policies, therefore, leaving it too controversial to cover, so it is often tiptoed around or skipped completely. Readers are able to bring their own knowledge to the text and form their own opinion. (Being a teacher, isn't one of the first things we learn about reading strategies, is activating prior knowledge?...I think this could be key in engaging our students in past history and present events!)
Textbook authors as well as highly publicized government briefs would like us to believe that everything our country does is for the common good. If we are never challenged to think any differently, it can be hard to see anything else. This statement from the Pentagon, although released remains virtually unheard of in news reports and textbooks, "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather they hate our policies."Why is this left out? President Bush explained 9/11, as an act committed by people that hate americans, our freedoms, and our democracy. American people are little aware of the events that led up to 9/11 or our other wars fought within the Middle East. America is quick to put the blame on someone else to remain the "good guy" looking out for the common good. If we were to look at multiple stances and taught how to decipher them from textbooks, we might have a different outlook on how America should conduct itself; however, it can almost be seen as a textbook's job to help continue the complacent, positive, ethnocentric country. Americans become unable to understand why others are unhappy with us.
Authors claim that historians will understand the period once many years have passed, and we are detached. Therefore, simply mere basic "facts" are told in a monotone, historical tone asking students to memorize the information. What good is memorization if we cannot apply our knowledge to the current? If the passage of time is the textbook's defense to not providing multiple views on an issue, it does not change overtime, in fact, perspective is lost. Things do not have to be presented in a matter of fact manner, but instead authors could present the material as this is the information we currently have and allow students to analyze it and research it further. In the present, we have much more access to materials that are available then possibly losing them in the future. Events are often portrayed by the view of a particular social practice of the time that determines the historical perspective presented. (For example, until after the Civil Right's Movement, Reconstruction was portrayed from the viewpoint of "Negro domination." Following the change in social practice, textbooks revised their perspective on Reconstruction.
By censoring the information that we are receiving, textbooks, teachers, and the government are not allowing us to become true critical thinkers. The material is out there telling the whole story of various aspects of American history, so even if the textbooks leave out the material, teachers can still present students with primary sources that will probably be more revealing than the textbook's tertiary source, especially with history of our recent past. Students will learn much more this way on how to be an effective American citizen as opposed to a complacent, non-questioning citizen.
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