History and Nationalism
Nationalism refers to a political ideology, creed or belief that involves personal identification with own nation or home country. The American education system was designed in a way that promotes the cultural unity of all citizens. History education majorly focused on the great works of the nation and its people. History teachers try to expose the students to the accumulated knowledge of civilization. The education system covers national and world history, to help students appreciate their historical roots and locate their identity in time. To develop these insights, the students are taught the things that happened in the past, and how they changed and developed. The country teaches history of its own by showing the better attributes of its leaders, founders and other great people. It attempts to put America in a more positive perspective in order to promote nationalism among the Americans and make them proud to be part of a great country.
The American education system was not fair to history because it omitted certain historical elements. According to Zinn, states have selective memories and only acknowledge what they deem relevant and worth remembering (Stripes, 2009). They assume a subjective reality rather than objective reality. Zinn argues from an objective perspective that real history constitutes of a collective memory and actual events and facts which actually occurred rather than subjective history which the nation state wants its people to embrace. Kissinger brought about an impression that power is the central element that controls the memory of people (Stripes, 2009).
American nationalism was one-sided, with religion and capitalism being the main influential values of the American lifestyle. Many American citizens adopted a culture of inclusion and exclusion, on the basis of gender, class and race. As a result, the nation was often greatly divided, as evident during the Civil War. According to Higgonet (2007), America is again the only nation in the world where the Right and the Left had a common origin. He goes further to point out that the protagonists of European leftist thinking, that is, anticapitalism and anticlericalism, have been denied audience in the United States. This is because of the country’s negative attitude towards Britain, which was seen as greedy and power hungry. The theory was one-sided and tended to focus on what it perceived memorable and worth embracing. Higgonet (2007) further notes that throughout the nation’s history, various circumstances have often been the deciding force on what should be included or excluded. The American presidents manipulated history to fit in their own ideological perspectives, and thus eroding civil liberties and making history lean on a certain ideological perspective. In terms of religion, some religious groups such as Islam were perceived as terrorists, yet not all Muslims engaged in terroristic activities (Gorski, n.d.).
Critics say that most of what is taught about American history in grade and middle lacks adequate historical context and accuracy. Many historians are of the view that American history has failed because it has an element of perpetuating popular myths, leaving false impressions and avoiding negative images even from primary sources. It also distorts attitudes and events and tries to eliminate controversy and conflict at all costs (Anonymous, 2011). The biggest shortcoming of the history curriculum is that it was male-centric and Eurocentric, both in perspective and context. It virtually ignored the history, literature, perspectives, accomplishments and perspectives of women and colored people. Though conditions have improved to make education more accessible to all Americans, there are still remnants of this discriminatory history (Gorski, n.d.).
References
Anonymous. (2011). Book Review: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Retrieved on July 24, 2013 from: http://www.slywy.com/lies-my-teacher-told-me-everything-your-american-history-textbook-got-wrong/
Gorski, C. P. (n.d.). Understanding Multicultural Curriculum Transformation. Multicultural Curriculum Reform. Retrieved on July 24, 2013 from: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/concept.html#question1
Higgonet, P. (2007). Attendant Cruelties: Nation and Nationalism in American History. Other Press.
Stripes, J. (2009). History is the Memory of States. Patriots and Peoples. Retrieved on July 24, 2013 from: http://historynotebook.blogspot.com/2009/08/history-is-memory-of-states.html
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