I think it was definitely easiest to come up with examples of white men, especially for the earlier examples. I would say this was the easiest group just because it's what we learned about in school. I remember having to memorize all of the Presidents in order and they were all white men up until Barack Obama. That made it easy to come up with a white male for each century. I would say the next easiest category was white females because I could think of many of the first ladies.
I would say I could remember more men than women, but for the current century I think it was easier for me to come up with women. Men are emphasized more in politics and in sports, but I don't pay a whole lot of attention to either of these. For me it was easier to come up with female singers or actresses. I feel like now that women are shown in a more sexual manner that we see them more frequently. I can name many more female models than I can name male models.
I would have to say that middle eastern cultures are really not emphasized here in the United States. I could think of some Asian people and of some Latino people, but I literally could not think of any middle eastern people other than the bad ones that are shown on the news. The only form of middle eastern culture I could think of that has been incorporated into our culture is Slumdog Millionaire. This movie came out about a year ago and I can't recall any other examples of middle eastern culture from before that film.
I feel like some groups aren't talked about in our history because they were discriminated against for a very long time and even if they did do something important no one documented it or worse took credit for it. Also for a long time people of different cultures weren't allowed into our government or other important establishments or roles which is what we learn about in school. Also, some cultures that are very prevalent now probably weren't before the 1900's. I don't know when people from the middle east began moving here but it seems like it's been fairly recent. It also seems that when people immigrate here they tend to live in communities with other people from the same region to maintain their culture and their language and we don't become involved in these communities.
Question: Should schools place more emphasis on the history of other countries? Do you feel that it is extremely important for us to know our own history more than the history of other countries?
I think school systems are put into a lose-lose situation. I think so because if we only concentrate primarily on US history then we face the issue of succumbing to a too narrow curriculum. On the other hand, if we focus more on "world history" then we face the issue of not being able to focus on many issues. After all, which moments in world history should schools continuously emphasize? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAs for your second question, I am personally more interested in historical topics that relate to my interests in life. For instance, I am related to historical aspects that relate to literature, sports, and music. So I wouldn't mind if the historical information in regards to the latter topics are either US history or international history. I guess I wish that schools allowed kids to decide what they wished to study in terms of historical information. If a kid is interested in sports then I think he or she should be encouraged to study the history of sports. Right now, I don't think school systems encourage the idea of young students to specialize their learning.
I personally believe that yes, schools should focus on other countries histories, but also on our own countrie's history as well. I feel like my school did not do a very good job of teaching me of other countries cultures or taught us about how they once lived or their history, instead focused more on our own countrie's history. I think it's good to learn both, probably more of our own history just because we live here so we should know as much as we can about how we would've gotten here and how our country developed, but also broadening our horizons and learning other countrie's histories is good as well in my opinion because it helps show us how other people lived or even still how they live today!
ReplyDeleteI believe that schools should focus on other countries history as well as our countries history because I think that it would be beneficial for communication with people from these other countries, as well as how the other countries relate to our country so that when communicating with people from other countries you can find common ground. I think that if we all learned a little more about how the rest of the world does things and the history of why they do these things the way they do then maybe we wouldn't have just one point of view of the U.S.; we can learn a lot about our country if we can see it from other point of views.
ReplyDeleteI think that an equal amount of time needs to be spent on U.S. history and world history. This was close to the case in my high school (we had two years of U.S. and two years of world history). However like Anthony said, the problem with world history is that it is such a broad topic and it is hard to decide what to focus on. I feel that in order to understand U.S. history completely, we need to know the history of other countries because they are so intertwined.
ReplyDeleteYes very much so I do believe that it is important for schools to emphasize on other countries as well as our own country. It is important that we get knowledge of what our worlds past and present is. I think that it is probably more important for us to know the US background a little more then other backgrounds if you are a US citizen.
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