@Pcptrvanion Said 
A lot of the so-called "history" being taught in public schools is nothing more than political propaganda.
- slavery was the cause of the civil war
Truth is that slavery was about as much of an issue as a pinch of salt is to a two-gallon stew. It WAS a factor but a very minor one.
Kids are not taught that there were Northern Slave States even after the war.
They are not taught that most Southerners did NOT own slaves and opposed the entire institution.
- many schools still teach that the United States has never lost a war.
Over 220 armed conflicts and we've had our butts handed to us several times.
- many schools still teach that the United States has never been invaded.
More hogwash. Even if you don't count the Japanese invasion of Alaska in World War II (because it was a territory and not a state) this country has been invaded repeatedly.
IF North American Aborigines are mentioned at all...the story is short and sanitized. Kids are not taught that up to the 1970's the government was still forcibly taking children from their parents and shipping them off for re-education.
"Reservation Schools" where children were punished for speaking the language of their parents and taught that "Tradition is the ENEMY of Progress".
True history is NOT taught in public schools.
Yeah, the textbooks are made to suit Texas state curriculum for the most part, them being the largest purchasers. So things tend to get a little skewed to what people elected to school boards in Texas want to teach, and many of these people are not teachers or historians, they have their own agendas.
Texas textbooks are only balanced out by California, though with their money issues around education, they are becoming less of purchasing force in the supply and demand of textbooks.
The whole situation makes for some issues in our education system.
May 09, 2012 @ 00:06:54
in my senior year, our class discussed how limited the textbook was. because before american revolution to korean war. my class want to leaned more vietnam ( because just end ), i really didn't understand that well at time. i was interested with passion about history, a couple of years ago, i watched " roots " for the first time on tv, and that was a masterpiece. outside of all my classes, i read a lot of books that i could get hands on. my teachers did their best to teached me, but i had problems with comprehend with reading. that why i read a lot on any subject that interest me. in history, even after i graduated from high school for a year, i read a lot on civil war, and world war 2. anyway back to the class, we had a long discussions ( that i can't remember ). what i remember we thought that the textbook didn't provide emotions how people felt at the time of history event, it had facts and dates. how do we as young people related these history events. we agreed it was boring to learned history, if some ways that we can't related. our teacher agreed with us. i remember he told us that he enjoyed discussed anything in his class. he agreed that the textbook was outdated in so many ways, he forced to teached us, because of school's policy. i haven't read all of this thread, i hopefully that school's policies changed for the better. i hope tfs member's children are being taught both sides of our so-called " american history " today. if get your child to read for themselves, and make their own minds up. 
Administrator
