Do American History Teachers Value Feelings Over Knowledge?
10.15.10 – Robert Holland and Don Soifer – Nearly half of American history teachers believe it is less important that their students understand the common history, ideas, rights and responsibilities that tie the country together as Americans than that they learn to celebrate the unique identities and experiences of its different ethnic, religious and immigrant groups.
Advocates of radical “social-justice” multiculturalism in many university schools of education — the places where most K-12 teachers are trained – continue to oppose assimilation with a common culture while instead seeking to transform radically an “oppressive” America.
A new survey of public high-school social-studies teachers done for the American Enterprise Institute indicates that they have gained a strong foothold in high schools.
Another sign of the indoctrination of this radical strain of multiculturalism was the finding that 37 percent of the history teachers believed it was “absolutely essential” that they teach their students “to be activists who challenge the status quo of our political system and seek to remedy injustices.”
Not surprisingly, only a little more than one-third of the teachers deemed it “absolutely essential” for their students to “know facts” (such as the location of the 50 states) or dates (such as the attack on Pearl Harbor). After all, why let facts get in the way of advocacy?
Subscribe
Enter your email to subscribe to daily Education News!
Hot Topics
- Charter Schools
- Education Technology
- California Education
- UK Education
- Teachers Unions
- New York Education
- C. M. Rubin
- New York City Schools
- Education Reform
- Cost of College
- Obama Administration
- Florida Education
- Julia Steiny
- New Jersey Education
- UK Politics
- STEM Education
- Los Angeles Schools
- Teacher Evaluations
- School Choice
- The Global Search for Education
- Early Childhood Education
- Tennessee Education
- College Admissions
- School Funding
- Chicago Schools
- Pennsylvania Education
- Standardized Testing
- Illinois Education
- Parent Involvement
- Texas Education
- Louisiana Education
- Bullying
- Online Classes
- Literacy
- School Budgets
- NCLB
- Washington DC Schools
- Michigan Education
- Cheating
- Ohio Education
- Connecticut Education
- Colorado Education
- 2012 Election
- UK Higher Education
- Education Research
Career Index
Plan your career as an educator using our free online datacase of useful information.
- Select a State Subject
- BSN Schools in Alabama
- History Schools in California
- Mental Health Schools in Louisiana
- Select a City Subject
- BSN Schools in Alexander City
- BSN Schools in Andalusia
- BSN Schools in Auburn University
- BSN Schools in Bay Minette
- BSN Schools in Birmingham
- BSN Schools in Boaz
- BSN Schools in Brewton
- BSN Schools in Dothan
- BSN Schools in Florence
- BSN Schools in Gadsden
- BSN Schools in Hanceville
- BSN Schools in Huntsville
- BSN Schools in Jacksonville
- BSN Schools in Jasper
- BSN Schools in Livingston
- BSN Schools in Mobile
- BSN Schools in Monroeville
- BSN Schools in Montgomery
- BSN Schools in Muscle Shoals
- BSN Schools in Phenix City
- BSN Schools in Rainsville
- BSN Schools in Selma
- BSN Schools in Tanner
- BSN Schools in Troy
- BSN Schools in Tuscaloosa
- BSN Schools in Tuskegee
- BSN Schools in Wadley
- History Schools in Quincy
- History Schools in San Rafael
- History Schools in Stanford
- Mental Health Schools in Baton Rouge
- Mental Health Schools in Monroe
- Mental Health Schools in New Orleans
Comments
Most Canadian history and English teachers teach from an essentially liberal perspective, usually pointing out where conservatives have got things wrong. It is almost always pointed out that they resisted all of the things that Canadians hold most dearly.
Canadians would die to defend state run single payer medicare, pensions, workers compensation, labour laws, child labour laws, womens' rights, gay marriage, and all the rest of these issues that are essential to social advancement. We always point out that , at least at the time, conservatives opposed these reforms. Later support does not count. You need to be there at the beginning to have any credibility.
As a longtime teacher educator, I am not surprised by the finding that only one-third of today's teachers believe that it is necessary that their students learn "facts." In that regard, it is notable that our future teachers only rarely are those in the academically top of their classes.
Nobody should be surprised to see that two-thirds of teachers think that teaching "facts" is uneccessary. Why would educators teach "facts" when students have access to more information on their cell phone than we could put out in an entire semester? Educators should be more interested in HOW they teach not WHAT they teach. Why should students memorize the date of Peral Harbor? They should think critically about why and how Pearl Harbor came to be.
The reason teaching does not draw the top students is because the pay is terrible for the educational expectations. Teacher wages should range from a low of about $100 000 to start up to about $150 000 for ten year teachers. At that point, people can get fussy about who gets to be a teacher.