Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen

Heroification leaves out important details of these "heroes" lives, and only presents trivial melodramatic details. By doing this students will never really fully understand why our "heroes" did what they did, and will never know the truth. “High school students hate history.”(pg.12) Even though in the end, that is the class they have the easiest time passing. Studies have showed that the more history classes that students take the less that they learn. They become “more stupid” about history.

67. Print. Loewen, James W. "Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government." Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New, 1995.

James Loewen wrote the book ?Lies My Teacher Told ME? to help the students of the United States become aware of their true history. This book attempts to show how and why American history has been taught the way it has without regard for the truth. Mr. Loewen had compared twelve different history textbooks they are: The Great Republic, The American Way, Land of Promise, Rise of the American Nation, Challenge of Freedom, American Adventures, Discovering American History, The American Tradition, Life and Liberty, The United States ? A History of the Republic, Triumph of the American Nation and The American Pageant.

The book was later reinstated in the curriculum when the board learned that the vote was illegal because they needed a two-thirds vote for removal of the text.' 'In 1977 parents in Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey, challenged the assignment of the novel in an American literature class. They charged that the book included considerable profanity and "filthy and profane" language that premoted premarital sex, homosexuality, and perversion, as well as claiming that it was "explicitly pornographic" and "immoral." After months of controversy, the board ruled that the novel could be read in the advanced placement class for its universal message, not for its profanity, but they gave parents the right to decide whether or not their children would read it.' 'In 1978 parents in Issaquah, Washington, became upset with the rebellious views expressed in the novel by Holden Caulfield and with the

People are so fascinated by our so called heroes such as Columbus and only decide to look at all the good they have brought onto world. Ignorance is so widely spread because no high school history teacher wants to bring up controversial topics. Just like Columbus people are greedy and only want the gold. Loewen asks “Why don’t textbooks mention arms as a facilitator of exploration and domination?”(37). Like previously mentioned, it is because of fear of controversy.

This is where we began being told music and art are not career worthy. That you needed to focus on important things such as math and business. He then says the second idea is based on academic ability. He states that this is where we lose out on some really amazing creative and talented people because they are stigmatized in school, because what they are good at is not supported so their made to feel like failures. Towards the end around the 18 mark he says a quote made by Jonas Salk, who said, "If all the insects were to disappear from the Earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would end.

The Banking Concept of Education,. New York: Continuum, 1993. Print. Loewen, James W.. Lies my teacher told me: everything your American history textbook got wrong.

The majority of our youth despises history; history is usually ranked last among the favorite subjects of students. American history textbooks all seem to follow the same storybook technique; therefore, students tend to take a snooze in class rather than learning about what has given them the freedom to sit in a classroom and learn. What if what is being taught in classrooms is not the complete truth, though? James Loewen dove deep into the true history of our past in Lies My Teacher Told Me. James Loewen has studied over eighteen American History textbooks over the years, and he discovered one common theme throughout each of the ... ... middle of paper ... ...to learn the hidden facts of my past.

College professors have been complaining about students who are unmotivated and uninterested; who therefor resist efforts to be educated. Students show this mindset in a few ways: not talking in class discussions, not reading assigned homework, complaining about to much work, missing class, and many more. Motivated and engaged college students cannot learn to their full potential; most students ridicule and look down on students who try hard in college universities. A sophomore at Duke University complains, "If you try to discuss something that happened in class, or something from your reading for class, they 'll ridicule you. People want to be able to turn off the academic switch the minute they get out of class" (Willimon 30).

Rose explains this situation in great detail, “Students were coming to college with limited exposure to certain kinds of writing and reading and with conceptions and beliefs that were dissonant with those in the lower-division curriculum they encountered. '; Rose places great blame on the professors who assume that these students are culturally prepared to address, and analyze, ideas and concepts that they have never even heard of before. Students, who come from different cultures and backgrounds, are not prepared (especially on their own) to give up everything that have spent the past eight-teen years believing in, in order to write the prefect college essay.