System 13

I mentioned yesterday that this week was finals week for me. Well, finals are now over, so I can take a breather. I’ve got a few weeks before I start back at the university for fall quarter.

One of the classes I took was about the history of America, from 1828 to 1900. I found it to be an extremely interesting class. I had had the professor in question before, when I took his class which covered from the founding of America to 1828. The same ‘interestingness’ that thrived in his first class was also in his second.

Basically, what I find so interesting about his courses, is that he gives a true picture of the history – not a patriotic version. Throughout my public school ‘career,’ I was given the patriotic version. All of the good guys were drummed up, and all of the horrible events throughout American history were kind of swept under the proverbial rug.

I recall from middle school that the settlement of the Trans-Mississippi West was essentially, “American settlers went out west for gold. They helped Indians onto reservations so that the Indian culture would be preserved.”

Now, certainly, I don’t expect a middle school class to cover nearly the amount of detail that a university course does. However, the version I was given wasn’t just less detailed. It was totally wrong. Killing off millions of buffalo (60 million between 1870 and 1900) to help bring about the demise of the Native Americans was not ‘helping them.’ Forcing Native American children into schools ran by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where they were forced to dress like Americans and to speak English, was not helping them. Setting up treaties and annuity payments with different tribes, only to turn around and break the treaties when American railroad companies and gold prospertors wanted in, was not helping them.

I think it’s interesting to note that, at least in classes I had in public school, the Native American question was mostly glossed over. However, reams of content was devoted to slavery. Is this because African Americans make up a sizeable portion of the American population now, and Native Americans don’t?

I don’t really get why the public school system teaches this extremely altered, patriotic version (unless they’re just going for patriotism points with the kids). Every country has their bad spots in history. I just think it’d be better if the bad spots were taught along with the good spots. Kind of like how Germany now forces Nazi Germany history into their kids’ heads. It’s a decent way to insure that the atrocities don’t happen again.

Then again, if Nazi Germany had won the war, I wonder – what would their public school system be teaching?
Technorati Tags: indians, nativeamericans, imperialism