CONCLUSION
Let us put our heads together and see
what life we will make for our children.
- SITTING BULL, Lakota
The content of American history textbooks
is generally factual, but the information that is conveniently
left out and the manipulation of the information that is left
in, cheat students out of truthful history. ". . .the thought
that I have been lied to about this all my life, and who knows
what else, really makes me angry," wrote a student in Bill
Bigelow's class after Bigelow challenged his students to critique
the portrayal of Columbus in their textbooks (Columbus
134). "Most of my students have trouble with the idea that
a book-especially a textbook-can lie," Bigelow explains
(123). Textbook publishers do not give American students enough
credit, assuming first, that students cannot handle the truth,
and second, that students will not discover that they have been
conned. Whether it is Bill Bigelow, or James Loewen, or an anthropology
course in college, students will probably find out somewhere that
they have been cheated by their educators. "I still wonder,"
wrote another of Bigelow's students, "if we can't believe
what our first grade teachers told us, why should we believe you?
If they lied to us, why wouldn't you? If one book is wrong,
why isn't another?" (135)
Aside from leaving students angry and disillusioned, the distortions in American history textbooks do not properly prepare students for real life. Because the past affects the present, what students learn about the past affects the way they will relate to the present. When history textbooks do not question the fact that Columbus claimed the Caribbean islands he encountered for Spain, what kind of message does that send to students?-that white people have the right to dominate people of color? How will that message affect the way white students treat people of color throughout their lives? American history textbooks present history as too much "fact," and do not raise enough questions. When textbooks present controversy, they not only give students a honest picture of the American past, but they make American history more interesting to study. Controversy can bring the story of America's past to life because controversy more closely represents the uncertainty of real life.
In addition to including controversy, American history textbooks should present a smaller quantity of information. The average length of the ten currently used textbooks I studied was 800 pages, ranging from 552 pages to over 1000. Presenting fewer facts would allow students to learn more information on their own, and therefore retain more information. For example instead of having students memorize all of the names of the early European explorers-Cortés, Pizarro, Verrazano, De Soto, Champlain, etc.-students could analyze the effects of the explorations of the Americas on the world. In the process of investigating this issue, students would uncover the details themselves, and therefore be more likely to remember them. The regurgitation of fact after fact does not stimulate student's minds or imaginations.
Until textbooks stop trying to convert American history students into patriotic robots, blind to any unpleasant American tributes, the responsibility of compensating for the shortcomings of the textbooks falls to teachers and district supervisors. To present a more complete Native American history, teachers must base their American history curriculum on more than the textbooks; they must use other sources-supplementary books, videos, films, guest speakers, field trips, discussions. Additionally, the district supervisors must assist teachers in finding the supplementary materials and guide teachers on how to implement multiculturalism in their classrooms.
Multicultural education has been implemented in the Washington Metropolitan area in limited scope. If this is the case in an area as ethnically diverse as the Washington area, imagine how much more limited its implementation has been across America. But the education system in America is ripe for change, as mounting racial tension in America has awakened people to the problem of Eurocentrism. Interest in multiculturalism has grown steadily in the last decade, and a few canon conservatives are not going to convince enough people that multiculturalism is bad and change the tide. Eventually textbooks will also begin to change under the pressure to accommodate multiculturalism, illustrated by the History of US series. However, even A History of US has a long way to go before it reflects the complete Native American experience. Native American author Wilford Pelletier articulated the purpose of multiculturalism in the documentary War Against the Indians:
It takes a long time not to feel like an alien, a long time to feel at home, a long time to search out and discover who you are. But if you go all the way with that exploration, it takes you beyond race, beyond color, beyond class, beyond every kind of category, you find that you belong to humanity and that's who you are. When you no longer feel like an alien anywhere, you've come home, you know who you are. You've found your family, the human family, and there's no such thing as the human family and others-not anymore. As long as you leave anyone out, you are the alien.
No longer should so much of Native American history be left out of the grade school American history curriculum. Doing so will only continue to hurt Native Americans, American school children, and ultimately, all Americans. We would do well to heed the words of Chief Seattle who said that all things are connected.
| Columbus Day
JIMMIE DURHAM |
In school I was taught the names Columbus, Cortez, and Pizzaro and A dozen other filthy murderers. A bloodline all the way to General Miles, Daniel Boone and General Eisenhower. No one mentioned the names Of even a few of the victims. But don't you remember Chaske, whose spine Was crushed so quickly by Mr. Pizzaro's boot? What words did he cry into the dust? What was the familiar name Of that young girl who danced so gracefully That everyone in the village sang with her- Before Cortez' sword hacked off her arms As she protested the burning of her sweetheart? That young man's name was Many Deeds, And he had been a leader of a band of fighters Called the Redstick Hummingbirds, who slowed The march of Cortez' army with only a few Spears and stones which now lay still In the mountains and remember. Greenrock Woman was the name Of that old lady who walked right up And spat in Columbus' face. We Must remember that, and remember Laughing Otter the Taino who tried to stop Columbus and who was taken away as a slave. We never saw him again. In school I learned of heroic discoveries Made by liars and crooks. The courage Of millions of sweet and true people Was not commemorated. Let us then declare a holiday For ourselves, and make a parade that begins With Columbus' victims and continues Even to our grandchildren who will be named In their honor. Because isn't it true that even the summer Grass here in this land whispers those names, And every creek has accepted the responsibility Of singing those names? And nothing can stop The wind from howling those names around The corners of the school. . . . |