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Summary Of Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

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Concerning History

In “The Land of Opportunity” and an excerpt from his book “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” author James Loewen addresses such issues as inaccuracies left uncorrected in today’s textbooks and the growing sense of ignorance amongst young generations concerning economics and social class. Loewen studied at Harvard University and became an American sociologist, author, and professor. Loewen has written numerous books challenging the history that is taught to students today. “The Land of Opportunity”, and “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” are examples of James Loewen’s passion for functional and accurate educational systems and equal opportunity …show more content…

Loewen also felt that fallacies were created so people view history as ‘happy’ to make everything okay. For this same reason is why society has a misunderstanding of history. The author realizes that History textbooks focus on dates rather than cause and effect. History textbooks are clones of one another, and therefore goes uncorrected since the editor focus on the competition rather than the print. “Land of Opportunity” presences a similar misunderstanding of textbooks of history. Students sense that history is just history, not realizing that they are a part of history, and because of history they are where they stand today. “They have no understanding of the ways that opportunity is not equal in American and no notion that social structure pushes people around, influencing the ideas they hold and the lives they fashion”. …show more content…

Christopher Columbus took land from the Native Americans and introduce slavery. As a result, he destroyed the Native American culture. If one man is able to destroy a culture, think about what effects a culture together can do? Racism is displayed in countless forms and in several places including the education system. Teachers past judgment on students they felt were ‘a waste of time’ judging their backgrounds and social class. “Social science research show that teachers are often surprise and even distressed when poor students excel”. (203) Social class determines one’s future. Those who are higher on the social ladder may excel through life with no understanding of how they got

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