Bush for teaching U.S. history
President Bush on Tuesday decried the “large and disturbing” gaps in children's knowledge of history and announced plans to improve teaching of the history of the United States.
What a good idea.
While in Tennessee, the president was to lead nationwide recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance — something one-third of fourth-graders don't know how to do, he noted at the White House.
And let's teach them also that for the first 50 years, it was recited with (what's now considered ) the fascist arm-extended salute. That 'under God' has only been present since 1954, as a result of pressure from a Catholic organization. That pledging allegiance to a flag has generally been a feature of fascist nations, which we share with almost no other democratic nations.
28 percent of eighth-graders do not know why the Civil War was fought
Yes, they should know that the north didn't want to see more slave states admitted because slavery would steal jobs from whites, not to mention that they wanted to continue to exploit the resources of the south. That the people actually speaking out for and acting for the rights of blacks and slaves were considered a lunatic fringe. That Lincoln said "I will say that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, (applause) -- that I am not, not ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they can not so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
“In recent events our children have witnessed the great character of America, yet they also need to know the great cause of America. They are seeing American fight for our country. They also must know why our country is worth fighting for,” Bush said
Yet somehow I don't think that's the history he has in mind.
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Lincoln's famous segregationist quote gets batted around out of context quite frequently. On it's own, we're led to believe that Lincoln was at his heart an afrophobic racist. But if Lincoln was a segregationist and nothing more, then it's unlikely the North could have been rallied to defeat the South under Lincoln's command.
I'm not convinced you were saying this, Zed. I just want to provide a bit of framework for that quote, if I may.
Like 99% of America in the 1850's, Lincoln was a total hypocrite: He wanted the Union preserved, but as a pre-Bellum American, he couldn't envision a culture with freed slaves in it. Some figured the Union would split if Blacks and Whites were allowed to live freely together, while others figured that the slaves had to be freed at all costs. Lincoln himself seems to have held both opinions before the war. Consider this quote from the very same Douglas-Lincoln debates as the quote you cited, Zed: "There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man." (1958).
How could Lincoln hold such contradictory opinions? How could he voice diametrically opposed beliefs in one set of debates – and win? Because the electorate was just as divided as he. America, or at least, the north, and its (very) representative leader had to undergo a transformation of vision, from resisting change to accepting the birth of a multicultural society. So, while this quote you mention is both shocking and indeed illuminating, when you focus on merely one half of the "house divided" in Lincoln's mind, we don't get close to comprehending the astounding transformation that Lincoln (and America) would go through during the war years.
And teaching *that* might serve those, like our current POTUS, who have difficulty envisioning a complex, multicultural society: with arab Americans, visiting students from seemingly "unfriendly countries," and the constitutional guarantee of free speech for both of them.
Posted by barth on September 20 2002 16:23
=v= For the meaning of Lincoln's words in deeds in context, and for an excellently accessible corrective to what we're mistaught as American History, I recommend reading two books by James W. Loewen: Lies My Teacher Told Me, and Lies Across America. The first is devoted to textbooks, the second, to historical monuments (which is where most Americans learn "history" after leaving school).
Posted by Jym on September 22 2002 11:51
Points granted, Barth.
I think the most important lesson to be learned from U.S. history is that a hell of a lot of blood, sweat, and tears has been spilled by a hell of a lot of people in the fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that it's explicitly the case that to the extent that things are as good as they are for as many people as they are (said without forgetting how many there are for when things are bad), it's because so many have drawn lines in the sand and fought for their rights.
I think the most important lesson Bush would have schoolchildren indoctrinated with is that the U.S. is pure and right and good, and always has been and always will be, in all its affairs, foreign and domestic, and so all good people should shut up and keeps their heads down and do what the government tells us to. And that anyone who does different is a bad person threatening all that is good. And I think an even more whitewashed version of U.S. history than is typical today would be employed in that cause.
So if my mudslinging in this entry was imbalanced, it was in reaction to my projection on Bush as to his goals. Were I actually teaching a history class, I'd strive for balance and would present a more complicated view of Lincoln and the North.
Posted by Zed on September 22 2002 12:15