Lies My Teacher Told Me

Marshall Pickel
American history is taught in high schools all over the country. It is held as a core curriculum for every American student because of the importance found in teaching our youth of our “perfect nation” and our “perfect past”. However, contrary to popular belief, James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, has found American history to be taught with a completely nationalistic approach. Not only is the history of our country taught with a horribly strong patriotic sentiment, but generally with a misunderstood concept of the history of America by the writers themselves. America has never lived a lie as ruinous as that in which happens in classrooms every day. The words “American history” are no more obscure than they sound. It’s simply the history of America. Unfortunately, the history of America isn’t as virtuous as those in charge of our schools textbooks would like us to think. What can the textbook authors do about this? Lie, of course. So many of our favorite tales of valor, righteousness, and lionhearted leaders of America are not, and have never been told in truth. Why might this be? Everyone needs a hero. What makes this seemingly harmless statement as damaging as it sincerely is, is the fact that not only have we made heroes out of nearly every significant figure from our past, but that unless these figures are nearly flawless, no one believes they could pass as a “true hero” in our country. America is the mother sheltering its children from everything unholy. Unfortunately, we are the ones suffering. American history being taught selectively leads to students learning only bits and pieces of history, and many of these bits and pieces are manipulated into being something other than history. When nearly every American we learn about is a “hero”, it’s apparent that something is happening here. Imagine being lost in a desert, and your whole life you’ve been taught that the only way to save yourself when lost in a