OlasDAlmighty said:
Gilhelmi said:
I am not saying school is a complete waste of time. But they only teach so you pass the tests. Only rare occasion, usually when a teacher sees you excelling or takes a liking to you, do they go above and beyond to help you really understand things.
I'm sorry to here your education was like that, don't however assume that that's how every school and teacher operates. Most of my teachers taught in an open Socratic format where nothing was off the table so long as it was relevant to the time period we were learning about. And yes we learned all about racism, sexism, antisemitism and pretty any other dark subject matter almost indiscriminately.
I guess my point is that if in 20 years children don't know what black-face is, it'll be due to a failure of our educational system, not the mere passage of time.
Perhaps it will be a little of column A and column B. Really, I have had some very good teachers, but at the same time I have had 2 really good teachers (one college, one HS) teach the same subject but gave contradictory information. I looked into it, and both 'interpretations' were 'correct', as the event in question was so long ago it was hard to distinguish fact from myth. The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving is the best (but not even most recent) example. Thanksgiving was not even an official Holiday until President Lincoln, before that it was just proclaimed sometime in the fall and not even nationally celebrated. The Pilgrims part is open to much interpretation from the "They were racist" to the, "They were welcoming and not racist", even the "It did not happen at all" ends of the spectrum.
Even in this modern age where every bit of information is seemed to be saved. Someone in the future, will sort through and cheery pick what fits their 'agenda'. Heck, I read one-time about a history book that taught the CONFEDERACY had willing free-black soldiers [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907974.html?hpid=topnews]). Who the heck would believe that insane nonsense? Well, a young elementary student who has never been taught differently. This was in 2010. Some of the sources lead back to Sons of Confederate Veterans.
[start of sarcasm]gee, I wonder if they had reason to try and change historical perception
[end of sarcasm] (the text has been pulled from curriculum after the outcry, I hope.)
That leads to my passage of time point. The Holocaust really did happen, I have personally meet a survivor. Yet still, people try denial or down-playing it? But in 100-200 years, a historian will read the denial accounts and have to try to figure out if it really happened. Two seemingly reliable sources (some anti-smites are in powerful and influential positions) contradicting one another.
So I think we are both right. The passage of time will blur history, people with agendas will change history, and schools will not know which history to pick so they will over-simplify.
