Throughout the course of American history, one thing has remained clear. The story of the white American male is what we hear. In school, we have heard countless stories about a white male making a change or inventing something, but oftentimes this is not always the case. For example, we may have heard of the inventor of the cotton gin in school to be Eli Whitney. But after doing research according to an article by the Smithsonian Institution, “others contributed to its making — including a woman, Catherine Greene, and African slaves, two groups that gained little recognition for their input.” This is just one example out of many in history, where the story of a white male is told above the stories of others.
Another example of this disheartening phenomenon we experience in schools comes when learning about slavery. I was shocked to find out that most high school students don't accredit slavery as the start of the civil war. An article from the National Educational Association, it is stated that in a study of 1000 students most were “unable to correctly cite slavery as the central cause of the Civil War (almost half of the respondents selected "to protest taxes on imported goods"). This example also highlights how educators are concealing stories from their students. I think that as future teachers, we have to be aware of this. It was shocking for me to learn these facts but if we are informed, we will be able to promote more diverse stories to our future students and give these voices the recognition they deserve.
Another example of this disheartening phenomenon we experience in schools comes when learning about slavery. I was shocked to find out that most high school students don't accredit slavery as the start of the civil war. An article from the National Educational Association, it is stated that in a study of 1000 students most were “unable to correctly cite slavery as the central cause of the Civil War (almost half of the respondents selected "to protest taxes on imported goods"). This example also highlights how educators are concealing stories from their students. I think that as future teachers, we have to be aware of this. It was shocking for me to learn these facts but if we are informed, we will be able to promote more diverse stories to our future students and give these voices the recognition they deserve.
Hi Emily! First off, great post! I love how you kept your feelings very apparent in your writing. I think that is important for some people to see that they can do that int heir blog posts. I think that it is super important to understand that even with your cotton gin reference that the white man should not be the face of every accomplishment made in America. Why do you think this is? Do you think that this is just a pattern that people choose to continue to follow? I found it shocking as well that most students do not know that slavery was the main key to the start of the civil war. Why do you think that educators are concealing stories from their students? As future teachers, it is up to us to make the change and make sure all students can be seen in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Channing! These are really great questions you asked I think school systems may conceal these difficult topics because they are trying to push them aside, almost like they didn't happen, just because they are hard to discuss. I am hopeful that as teachers we will be able to break this cycle.
DeleteHey Emily! I always love reading your perspectives on these blogs. I like that you signified the importance of being taught the American male perspective. I think that most stories told are from that stance. I always thought, "what about the other people?" This was in regards to women or people of color. This bring me to my next point of your blog where you highlight slavery. Although this may be a sensitive topic to discuss, it is so important to remember what they went through as well. Their hardships tell a story and reading about the stories they tell show a sense of bravery to me. However, we must not forget those that were never able to tell their stories out of fear. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Heidi! I love how you say their hardships tell a story, that is so true. It is vital we honor these stories and don't let them slip away.
DeleteHi Emily! I really enjoyed reading your post. One of the history classes I had to take I had to read a book and I read bout Pocahontas and as I read, I came to realize that there are still so many unknowns to the story. Because for the most part Pocahontas was perceived from the white male perspective through written documents with rarely any trace of her own point of view. I think this relates to what you mentioned about how the white males’ stories are told over the others. So, could this mean there are so many untold truths about any history that we have learned? I think so because when you brought the topic of slavery and how educators may be concealing stories, that will lead to students learning only one side of history. I know slavery can be a very sensitive topic but it’s important as future teachers to tell the full history and not be one sided.
ReplyDeleteHi Risa! I love how you mentioned your own example about Pocahontas, I also remember hearing similar white male perspectives to her story, which is sad.
DeleteHey Emily, thank you for your post! I loved it. I love that you pointed out the importance of how history is presented to us in school about the white American male. I also think it's important that you pointed out people of color have put effort into the input but gained no recognition. I think that's very important to point out because that is something that is still happening today. Our society struggles with showing recognition to all people in history. My question for you is how are you going to go about this in your classroom? I’m still struggling on how we can talk about this in our classroom without getting into trouble. I think it’s very important to teach these topics and cover all of history but how do we do that with so many restrictions placed? It’s upsetting to think about when becoming a future teacher.
ReplyDeleteHi Teresa! Thank you for your questions, and honestly, I am in the same boat as you. I feel like I am constantly hearing about more and more restrictions being placed on what teachers can talk about, and even TEKS being changed to push out certain critical pieces of history. I know for sure I will have a very inclusive class library. I also just plan on using people from all races and cultures in my classroom examples/ lesson plans is a good step towards making sure these stories are told and my children of different backgrounds feel valued!
DeleteHi Emily! I really like how you started off by mentioning that the white-male story is the most talked about when talking about history. I think this is very important to point out to other because it is very common that schools provide students with reading materials that are mainly written by white males and rarely ever include reading materials written by people of color or women. I also appreciate that you included that others helped invent the cotton gin beside Eli Whitley because it shows that those peoples contributions were overlooked by the schools and educations system. I think it is crucial that teachers provide a full explanation when teaching students about history, not only including other contributors but also providing different point of views from each historic event as a way to show the students how each event affected everyone.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie! Thank you for your kind words, I agree with you, as we head into our careers expanding the viewpoint we share will be vital.
DeleteHey Emily, I completely agree with everything you said in this post. There are so many inventions that were allegedly made by white men that, come to find out later, were not made by them at all. I think it is almost kind of silly some of these because a lot of these inventions don'y make sense to be made by a white man. For instance, the sewing machine is rumored to be invented by a woman because why would a man take interest in making a sewing machine if he has never and probably will never sew in his life? (I know for production and all that but a woman probably helped him at least). And to your point about the Civil War, it is so true that people, especially in Texas, will fight tooth and nail that it wasn't about slavery. A lot of history is like this where it doesn't get taught accurately due to peoples' biases and it is our job as teachers to try and change this.
ReplyDeleteHi Alissa! It is truly so crazy to me what you said about the sewing machine, it makes perfect sense. Thank you for mentioning that, as it was something I had not thought of.
DeleteHi Emily, I just wanted to start by saying I love the way your blog posts look! I also love what you wrote. In school, we tend to only hear about white males in stories. I had no clue about Catherine Greene who helped create the cotton gin, it is a great example of the one perspective of history. There are so many people involved in history and I think it's crazy how we could only name a small group of people, the majority of them being white men. I know that as a woman, it would have been so cool to learn that women also were involved in major inventions. I was also shocked that most high school students did not know/dont think slavery was the central cause of the Civil War. That was very eye-opening. We as future educators just need to make sure that we take the time to find different stories.
ReplyDeleteHi Abbey! That is a great pint you make, as a woman, I would have also loved to have learned about things women helped invent in school. I think as future teachers we can make this happen, as the truth about a lot of inventions is surfacing.
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