History in High School Education;
More than just facts, dates, and timelines.
High school history classes focus on facts, dates, and timelines.
- Who won the 'Battle of Bunker Hill'?
- Who was the 11th President of the United States of America?
- In what year did President Lincoln get assasinated? By who was he assasinated?
- What year did the United States enter World War II?
- How many terms did President Franklin D. Roosevelt serve?
These are all common questions that a high school history class attempts to answer, but even if we can answer these questions, we don't necessarily have an understanding of our history.
While it is important to be able to answer these questions about our country's rich history; is it really that important to know which came first, the battle of Gettysburg or Antietam?
Unfortunately, high school students are missing out on some of the most powerful and engulfing aspects about our country's history... The story of the people; their emotions, opinions, lifestyles, etc. Instead we focus on timelines and pop quizzes about presidents and their time in office.
- What sort of impact did the Revolutionary War have on everyday life in the American colonies?
- What was it like in America in the late 1700s?
- How did the U.S. ermergence as a world power affect our economic system?
- What was the common American family like in the 1950s, and how was it different than today?
Most high school students couldn't answer questions like these.
Theodore R. Sizer wrote a book titled, Horace's Compromise, that attacks this problem. He talks about how students are being taught to simply "get the right answer," instead of learning how to analyze and address a question.
Students are not being taught to research, and ask their own questions. They are not being taught to formulate their own opinions. Instead they are being taught to read a question and choose
A - B - or C.
Students should study the lives of colonial families and so on. Books like "The Life of Billy Yank" could help students understand what it was like to be a Union soldier during the Civil War. The author of this book, Bell Irvin Wiley's intention was not to fill the reader's minds with facts about the war. His objective was to tell a story portraying the life of the common Union soldier. As a result, he doesn't go into much detail about the war. This would make Bill Irvin Wiley's book an excellent addition and contrast to any high school history class. While the teachers cram the student's heads with names and dates of battles, "The Life of Billy Yank" can teach them about a different aspect of the war and a better representation of what our history was like.
The sad truth is that high schools are not giving their students a well-rounded education in history. Whether it be world history or American history, students are missing out on the big picture, because all our schools and teachers want is a quick, standardized lesson. It is much more work for the teacher to ask a student to write an essay about the lifestyles of the American public during the Great Depression, than it is to give them a multiple choice test that can be fed through a 'scantron,' featuring questions like this...
1. Who was the U.S. President at the start of the Great Depression?
a. Theodore Roosevelt
b. Herbert Hoover
c. Franklin D. Roosevelt
d. Harry Truman
The question we need to ask is this...
Are we willing to accept these 'short-cuts' when it comes to our education system?
Or are we going to go after the full picture, and cover more than facts, dates, and timelines?
- Who won the 'Battle of Bunker Hill'?
- Who was the 11th President of the United States of America?
- In what year did President Lincoln get assasinated? By who was he assasinated?
- What year did the United States enter World War II?
- How many terms did President Franklin D. Roosevelt serve?
These are all common questions that a high school history class attempts to answer, but even if we can answer these questions, we don't necessarily have an understanding of our history.
While it is important to be able to answer these questions about our country's rich history; is it really that important to know which came first, the battle of Gettysburg or Antietam?
Unfortunately, high school students are missing out on some of the most powerful and engulfing aspects about our country's history... The story of the people; their emotions, opinions, lifestyles, etc. Instead we focus on timelines and pop quizzes about presidents and their time in office.
- What sort of impact did the Revolutionary War have on everyday life in the American colonies?
- What was it like in America in the late 1700s?
- How did the U.S. ermergence as a world power affect our economic system?
- What was the common American family like in the 1950s, and how was it different than today?
Most high school students couldn't answer questions like these.
Theodore R. Sizer wrote a book titled, Horace's Compromise, that attacks this problem. He talks about how students are being taught to simply "get the right answer," instead of learning how to analyze and address a question.
Students are not being taught to research, and ask their own questions. They are not being taught to formulate their own opinions. Instead they are being taught to read a question and choose
A - B - or C.
Students should study the lives of colonial families and so on. Books like "The Life of Billy Yank" could help students understand what it was like to be a Union soldier during the Civil War. The author of this book, Bell Irvin Wiley's intention was not to fill the reader's minds with facts about the war. His objective was to tell a story portraying the life of the common Union soldier. As a result, he doesn't go into much detail about the war. This would make Bill Irvin Wiley's book an excellent addition and contrast to any high school history class. While the teachers cram the student's heads with names and dates of battles, "The Life of Billy Yank" can teach them about a different aspect of the war and a better representation of what our history was like.
The sad truth is that high schools are not giving their students a well-rounded education in history. Whether it be world history or American history, students are missing out on the big picture, because all our schools and teachers want is a quick, standardized lesson. It is much more work for the teacher to ask a student to write an essay about the lifestyles of the American public during the Great Depression, than it is to give them a multiple choice test that can be fed through a 'scantron,' featuring questions like this...
1. Who was the U.S. President at the start of the Great Depression?
a. Theodore Roosevelt
b. Herbert Hoover
c. Franklin D. Roosevelt
d. Harry Truman
The question we need to ask is this...
Are we willing to accept these 'short-cuts' when it comes to our education system?
Or are we going to go after the full picture, and cover more than facts, dates, and timelines?