When I was in elementary and middle school, I was always taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. What I was not taught was the toll it took on the Natives in the Americas. Also, we were not taught about Christopher Columbus’ role before his voyage, such as his slave holdings. I found that article interesting because it gave me information that I was not taught so for in my education. I learned the reason for Columbus’ fame: the Founding Fathers needed a hero. I also learned that Columbus was both loved and hated when he was alive. He spread propaganda that he convinced himself was true. Throughout his life, both in Europe and the Americas, he overstepped his authority. In one case, he was “slap-happy” to enslave people. Although slavery was not entirely legal without cause, he enslaved people all too willingly. Also, it was later decided that he participated in genocide, and he was even said to be worse than Hitler. After reading all of this, I found it most interesting that he never intended to kill the Indians, although his actions were never documented to prove this was against his cause. All of my life, I was taught that Columbus was a …show more content…
The only thing that seems correct in the Columbus story was the voyage and the date it occurred. It does not seem that their goal is to teach how history really happened. They want to kids to learn lessons from these stories. I believe that lessons can be taught in a different way. If a certain part of history is too graphic to teach, they should learn that at a later age. I do believe that history should be taught as accurate as possible to avoid the mass confusion we experience later. I do believe that this is problematic because the students are made to question history throughout their entire education because they were never taught the real facts when they were