History is the study of past events especially involving human affairs. It also includes the study of following past incidents in the history of humankind connected to someone or something. Studying history assists humanity in understanding how the society has transformed in time. It also helps students relate various modern trends in the society and compares them to the progression from the early times (Bartolome 4). History is also an element of filtering the learned from the unlearned. Historians believe that by use of historical knowledge of facts and figures one can be able to determine the level of awareness in a person or the capabilities (Thomas 6). Historians have dealt with different issues, each taking its scope and extent of research. This is discussed in specifically below.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was a renounced person in history being known as the man who discovered America and proved the fact that the earth is not flat (Charles 13). The history of Columbus according to Zinn was prioritized, as there were around 15 more publications before him that showed the same thing in the same period (Thomas 16). According to Zinn, even if Columbus failed to sail in his discovery journey, the Europeans would have finally reached the American Columbus voyage. The primary purpose of the Columbus's voyage was a quest for exploitation and conquest. Columbus used religion as catching bait to proof that his journey was not a trip for trade or exploration (Thomas 6).
According to Zinn, Columbus revolutionized humanity and tactics for survival by bringing about transformed race relations among people of the society and after that; revolutionized the modern world regarding procession of land and labor through slavery from indigenous populations leading to their extermination. Zinn believes that Columbus was a great deal of the transatlantic slave which developed social underclass in the society (Thomas 6). Columbus is depicted as an ill rated person who allowed negative social values such as rape by his lieutenants. In Mexico, according to Zinn, Columbus is pictured as a villain and the Mexicans believe that he may only be celebrated by white Americans (Bartolome 17).
Native Americans
According to Loewen, Native Americans are the most lied about race in the history of humanity. Their inhabitation as hunters and gatherers with significant levels of peace proved that violence increases with civilization. Indians were great hunters and gatherers, and when the European came to America, they were provided with guns to improve their hunting skills which lead to atrophy later (Charles 3). Indians attracted numerous races such as black and white people into living their standards of life. According to Zinn, no historian ever depicted that the Native Americans were in any way attracted to either European, American or African societies (Alexander 22). The lack of administration and hierarchy attracted interest from European observers.
Pilgrims or slavery
According to Zinn, the issue of slavery had always startled Americans. In the historical line, George Washington was an owner of a slave and other prominent names in the American history. Wall Street was the marketplace where slaves could be arrayed so that Americans could hire or buy the slaves for their personal use (Ruperto 16). According to Loewen, slavery as well as its domination ideas and personalities, progressively led to legitimated hierarchy as well as dominance in the societies at the moment (Bartolome 13). The revolutionary idealism is pointed to have come from slavery and pilgrims developed in history. According to Zinn, slavery was mainly the cause of the war that emerged in Texas in 1835 whose main agenda was the freedom by the parties to own slaves (Alexander 18).
History has complicated humanity and the way of living by providing a sequential set of events, which portrayed individual races and people as inferior to others (Ruperto 4). The races involved in slavery are continuously viewed as inferior from the subsequent events presented by history. This affects the lives of many parties along tribal and racial lines such as discrimination of color in many states.
The readings presented in class does not differ a lot with my previous history lessons as they represent a series of similar events only providing detailed information as the history course proceeds. The shallow information offered in elementary school, as well as high school, develops in detail through the learning process (Ruperto 5).history taught in the elementary school progressively creates a situation whereby controversy remains the main theme. From elementary schools remain vague since students are taught mainly on achievements brought forward by historical events while not elaborating on the ill effects that happened in the historical period. Controversies arise as history studies advance from the elementary school. Among the controversies in the progressive of history from elementary schools include myths versus reality topics such as the origin of yoga. History in elementary school did not depictmany controversies as the information provided was filtered due to the tender age of the learners. Only the shallow and important ideas were presented in the elementary schools, but currently, detailed historical sequence of events that question many survival features have been taught currently (Charles 5). Religion, faith and spirituality are such a controversy as it is expounded to point not leaving any information behind. This brings up various differences in the religions and beliefs instilled in the modern society such as Christianity and Buddhism. There are also many controversies in the tribal affiliations taught in the advanced history classes, for example, certain tribes taught in the elementary schools have become extinct and redrafting history to depict their extinction is a controversy and brings enormous change to what has already been learned(Alexander 12).
W.E.B Dubois displays history as losing its essence in our current society due to its negative societal inclination. Dubois believes that by proclaiming certain people as bad through history, the international relations are affected as the concerned parties grow hatred and a sense of revenge in the long run. According to Dubois, the current generation was not present at the time of crucial wars for power between countries such as Russia and America (Thomas 33). Dubois states that as America remained a colony to countries such as Nicaragua and Cuba, humanity takes these senses of misuse of other country's peace and democracy (Ruperto 11). The negative factor in the society grows different aspects of history from the ancient periods, and this can cause serious traumatic concussions in the long run.
The far-reaching consequences of how history has been taught in schools go over beyond the imagination and affect our conscience and life problem-solving skills. Many students embark on unending quests in search of their origin as well as their ancestral land. This leads to students involving them in substance abuse and induces a feeling that they know people they should not know in their lives (Charles 13). This can bring traumatic effects on the student's well-being and self-esteem. Teaching history to the affected races affects the students negatively by bringing in a sense of loneliness when the students are made aware of what happened to their races as slaves and the journey their ancestors passed through during that period (Alexander 7). History, when taught in setting up involving marginalized parties and the ruling parties such as Americans and Native Americans, is bound to bring heated debates as the student may want to defend their reputation bringing hatred among them(Bartolome 5).
According to Loewen, even if many people like history, it is regularly disliked by many marginalized communities and individuals as well as much as the Native Americans and women in our society. Loewen depicts the goal of history as nationalism and represents the subject as a matter which exploits the unlimited goals they can achieve in their lives (Ruperto 10).
In conclusion, as well as history is acknowledged for passage of information since time immemorial, it also develops an adverse effect on the marginalized societies. By engaging different parties in the progression of history, a sense of loneliness and trauma are installed in some of the parties. Since history does not filter any information regarding the progress of humanity, it is an important subject to understand the pros and cons of the modern societies about those in the past. The aspect of slavery and power remain the main themes depicted in history as they were what distinguished various processions in the history of humanity. Forgetting the wrong doings in history such as slave trade is the greatest step in developing a modernized society without discrimination and feeling for revenge.
Works Cited
Alexander Stille. The Betrayal of history. New York Review of Books, volume 45 Review. Print 2012
Bartolome de la Casas. Lies My Teacher Told Me; Handicapped by history: The process of Hero Making. 2011.
Charles v. Willie. Lies My Teacher Told me. 2006
Charles v Willie. Columbus, The Indians and human Progress. Web print. 26th February 2013
Thomas Aspinwall. Lies My Teacher Told Me; the True Importance of Christopher Columbus., print. 2011
Ruperto Costo., Lies My Teacher Told Me; the Truth about the First Thanksgiving. Print version. 20011
