Hmm… Better or worse than plucking books off of the Historical Fiction shelf and teaching it to US students for a century or two?
So many Americans today still believe Christopher Columbus discovered the USA and proved the world was round, that Washington led a VOLUNTEER army of people motivated with patriotism for a country that didn’t exist yet, that Paul Revere rode through towns in the middle of the night screaming "The British are coming!" at the top of his lungs, that John Smith was a heroic figure rescued from execution by a loving Pocahontas…
…You really start to wonder if ANY US history is taught accurately.
No idea about any of the others, however history lessons never taught that Christopher Colombus discovered North America (the continent), much less the U.S. (which was formed much later), nor proved that the world is round (or flat, or anything), only that he thought that he was going to prove that the world is round (and historical evidence show that he did not even pay attention to whether it is round, today or whatever, plus that the primary drive was actually the planned expulsion of Jews from Spain, which came into effect the same day he left, "smuggling" the children (probably ages between something like 14-28) of Jews who requested him to save their children, as many of the members of his crew).
It hasn’t been – that’s precisely why we’re having curriculum reforms in the real world.
Easier access to primary sources of information means that the ability to find the origin point of historical mythology is stratospherically easier than before. And when you can find out when a piece of historical mythology was made up, well – suddenly it’s far easier to realize what’s blatantly false.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that we always have access to the truth of the matter, but it does mean that we can eliminate outright falsehoods like the ones you mentioned.
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Hmm… Better or worse than plucking books off of the Historical Fiction shelf and teaching it to US students for a century or two?
So many Americans today still believe Christopher Columbus discovered the USA and proved the world was round, that Washington led a VOLUNTEER army of people motivated with patriotism for a country that didn’t exist yet, that Paul Revere rode through towns in the middle of the night screaming "The British are coming!" at the top of his lungs, that John Smith was a heroic figure rescued from execution by a loving Pocahontas…
…You really start to wonder if ANY US history is taught accurately.
No idea about any of the others, however history lessons never taught that Christopher Colombus discovered North America (the continent), much less the U.S. (which was formed much later), nor proved that the world is round (or flat, or anything), only that he thought that he was going to prove that the world is round (and historical evidence show that he did not even pay attention to whether it is round, today or whatever, plus that the primary drive was actually the planned expulsion of Jews from Spain, which came into effect the same day he left, "smuggling" the children (probably ages between something like 14-28) of Jews who requested him to save their children, as many of the members of his crew).
It hasn’t been – that’s precisely why we’re having curriculum reforms in the real world.
Easier access to primary sources of information means that the ability to find the origin point of historical mythology is stratospherically easier than before. And when you can find out when a piece of historical mythology was made up, well – suddenly it’s far easier to realize what’s blatantly false.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that we always have access to the truth of the matter, but it does mean that we can eliminate outright falsehoods like the ones you mentioned.