United States history in schools is falling off the curriculum, and it needs to be addressed. Our own country’s history is arguably just as important to a student’s learning as math and reading. As a country, how are we supposed to raise empathetic children if they are oblivious to the reality of our country’s acts and how are we, in the future, supposed to prevent history from repeating itself if it is not taught?
At DGS specifically, U.S. history is a required class for sophomores, and must be completed in order to graduate. Sure, this is a great thing, and this is the way it should be, but the content within the class is what falls short. The lessons are mainly focused on the “more important” and “well known” events rather than the events in between that led to the “big” events.
I am currently taking a class in the social studies department at DGS called U.S. foreign policy, and I couldn’t be enjoying my experience more. The class obviously stems off of U.S.’s foreign policy, and when the country should get involved within affairs overseas. But, it is greater than that.
Our units go throughout the timeline of U.S. history and cover every little detail within those years. For example, we began with the basics of foreign policy and civics, then continued with years 1898-1960, then 1961-2001 and lastly the 21st century and post 9/11 world.
Foreign policy is an elective class, meaning that it is not required, and is only taken if a student chooses to do so. And, news flash, not very many students opt to take an extra class to learn about U.S. history. I believe that everyone should take this class, or a class similar to it because you learn so much that happened in our homeland that you never knew existed.
As a self proclaimed history buff, I liked to think I knew almost everything about World War II and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. This class definitely opened my eyes to the fact that so many important events go unspoken about and untaught about within schools. More specifically, I had no clue there was an original attack on the World Trade Centers in 1993.
The original attack shows the U.S. government’s failure to intervene internationally with a terrorist group in which they believed did not have the capacity to shake our country, leading to the fateful day we know as 9/11. Whether schools do not teach this part of history in mandatory classes because they view it as insignificant or are trying to hide mistakes made by the government, it is our history and needs to be taught regardless.
If we continue to disregard certain events within our history, they will simply erase forever. These events are only brought up occasionally today, because we still have fellow citizens who lived through it and felt the effects firsthand. Once those people die off, the memory and long-lasting impact of that specific event will die off with them if we do not continue to pass on our teachings.
Another example of untaught history is the fact that it has been pushed under the rug to new generations that 53 Americans from an American embassy in Tehran were held captive for 444 days (1980-1981) by the Iranian government. Why is this not a key point within our history? Our people suffered, and were held away from their families for over a year, leaving their families concerned and unsure of their safety.
It is important for children to learn the good, bad and ugly of what happened to our country in order to see the true, unforgiving and cruel actions that can take place. There is no point in sugar-coating, or diluting our history as children will never be prepared for the real world ahead of them. If our people lived through such horrific events, their memories deserve to be preserved, and enriched within our nation’s history books forever.
