Lies my teacher told me Ch. 1
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Chapter 1 Before chapter 1, the introduction gives plenty of background information and reasoning of the book. The author, James Loewen explains his logic. Loewen states the textbooks used in teaching high school American History are a wrong to students and the nation, the texts and courses seek to protect and inform the truth. Chapter 1’s main idea is “herofication”. He explains that American History textbooks the wrong doers seem like the perfect ones. He points out two 20th century heroes: Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson, a so called “little person” and a famous president. Most remember the movie scene where blind and deaf Keller spells "water" on Anne Sullivan's hand and all accept the moral that anyone can be helped to reach their potential. Few college students know that Keller graduates college, studies how blindness is statistically intense in the lower class, and uses her fame to effect change. Keller becomes a radical socialist and supports progressive causes. Whether you agree with Keller's positions or not, Americans should know the radical she is. Millions will never know the real truth.
What most college students do not know about Wilson is even more astonishing. Events like, The Palmer Raids; his "unknown war with Russia"; and, his Latin American adventures. Wilson was dedicated to colonialism, racism, and anticommunism, Wilson rejects to recognize the Soviet Union, aids to keep it out of the peace negotiations, and refuses Vietnamese self-determination. Never mind that these actions shape later anti-Americanism, the history textbooks ignore them, throw them in a favorable light, and use the passive voice to insulate Wilson from unheroic and immoral deeds. Wilson uses executive order to segregate the federal government; he closes the Democratic Party to blacks, and often sets the tone for racial cruelty by whites, strengthened by the release of David W. Griffith's infamous film, Birth of a Nation. Only four of twelve
What most college students do not know about Wilson is even more astonishing. Events like, The Palmer Raids; his "unknown war with Russia"; and, his Latin American adventures. Wilson was dedicated to colonialism, racism, and anticommunism, Wilson rejects to recognize the Soviet Union, aids to keep it out of the peace negotiations, and refuses Vietnamese self-determination. Never mind that these actions shape later anti-Americanism, the history textbooks ignore them, throw them in a favorable light, and use the passive voice to insulate Wilson from unheroic and immoral deeds. Wilson uses executive order to segregate the federal government; he closes the Democratic Party to blacks, and often sets the tone for racial cruelty by whites, strengthened by the release of David W. Griffith's infamous film, Birth of a Nation. Only four of twelve