History essay on attached topic and instructions

¶ … American history is strongly embedded in the consciousness of the U.S. population. They place great emphasis on the arrival of the pilgrims on the Newfoundland, the colonization and the eventual gaining of independence from the British rule.

The Americans take great pride in their history and continue to emphasize on the values which sat at the foundation of the country, such as freedom and democracy. But the American children tend to know less and less about American history. The educational system is focused on presenting facts and data which are important in history, but which do not interest the children.

The history subject in public schools is focused on revealing crucial events and personalities in the history of the country, such as the role of the United States in the Second World War or the presidency of J.F. Kennedy. The history textbooks discuss political decisions and important moments in time. But to young children, and even to adolescents, these discussions often seem tedious and uninteresting.

In such a setting then, a question is being raised regarding the nature of the history lessons to be taught in school. More specifically, what should public school textbooks teach pupils about history? And who should make this decision?

Answering this question is a highly complicated endeavor and several researchers have strived to provide an answer. William Bruce Wheeler, Susan Becker and Lorri Glover (2011) take a generally different approach and argue that an important change in the history teaching process should be represented by the stimulation of student imagination and thinking process.

According to the three authors, it would be a useful approach for textbooks in the public system to still focus on the important facts and decisions, but to be more clear in presenting the setting in which those decisions were made, and the forces which drove the decision makers towards them. And furthermore, it would be important for the textbooks to stimulate imagination by asking pupils to try and make the decisions by themselves, or to consider what would have happened had the authorities of the time implemented a different course of action.

"What should happen to the defeated South? Should the states of the former Confederacy be permitted to take their pre-war places in the Union as quickly and smoothly as possible, with minimum concessions to their northern conquerors? Or should the United States insist on a more drastic reconstruction of the South" (Wheeler, Becker and Glover, p.306, 2011).

All in all, the authors of Discovering the American past: a look at the evidence: to 1877 leave it to be understood that the public textbooks should be less restricted to simply presenting the events, but they should present the more complex framework in which the events occurred. They should refrain from convincing students of drastic opinions and they should leave room for interpretations and free thinking. They should as such be objective and move away from the public opinion, which is highly volatile and which can manipulate various parties (Wheeler, Becker and Glover, 2011).

"Yet political opinion can shift with remarkable speed, and political figures forever must be sensitive to its sometimes fickle winds.

Although public opinion is a crucial factor in a democratic republic such as the United States, the same public opinion often can be shaped or manipulated by political figures, interest groups or the press" (Wheeler, Becker and Glover, 2011, p.306).

In terms of the authority to regulate the teachings in history books, this should continue to be ensured by the educational institutions and regulators who have vast expertise and knowledge in the field. Nonetheless, two specific changes would be implemented.

First of all, the creation of the history textbooks for the public system in the United States would become a more integrated effort, uniting the input from various parties. The academic community would for instance make suggestions of the more important history moments to be taught. Sociologists and psychologists could also provide input on the perceived impacts of the teachings on students and they could improve the works in order to ensure that they do not send specific messages. The school teachers would also participate and provide input on the subjects welcomed by the students and the nature of the activities which raise interest.