Example Of Religion History Essay

In response to the question posed by Loewen, about what has gone wrong, I believe that nationalism has played a major role in controlling what we study as students. Many patriotic Americans do not want us to learn about the negative side of our country’s past because we might not consider our ancestors so heroic after all. In our country, we look at people like Christopher Columbus as heroes and patriots who paved the way to develop the lives we currently live, but we are kept from the secrets of their dark pasts.
In the introduction and first chapter of Loewen’s book, I found it interesting that many history teachers are actually not happy when their students have prior knowledge about the subject. This is ironic because in every other discipline it is the opposite, making the teacher’s job easier, but it goes to show us how many misconceptions we have been fed in our education. I also found it interesting to learn that Helen Keller was a radical socialist. This showcases the idea that there is always more to these American heroes than we believe. Another interesting point in regards to the Helen Keller story is that blindness is concentrated in lower classes. I had never thought about this before, but it does make a lot of sense now, because the lower classes are the ones who work and therefore get in accidents as well as lack the proper health care to fix these issues. A fourth interesting point about these chapters is the way that Woodrow Wilson is portrayed in the textbooks compared to his actual presidency. I had always thought he was this heroic man who cared about the peoples’ rights, but I, like many fellow students, was misguided. Lastly, another important point from this chapter is the fact that Loewen believes children do not have realistic people to look up to. This is interesting because it is quite startling and real, and I never thought about it until now.