A Generational Comparison Continued (Blog Post #4)

Out of all the differences I've observed between my learning and that of the children I work with, the one that frustrates me the most is not learning how to be a critical thinker until high school. This frustration became apparent to me after reading Broom's article History from a Philosophic Perspective. Her reaction to having only been taught one perspective resonated with me on so many levels.

As a student, I only learned one story, one perspective in history, class which left me embarrassed and ignorant in my first university class about indigenous history. I was so angry that for 17 year of my life, I had never been taught anything about such a huge part of our history. I didn't know the names of the peoples, I didn't know anything about their culture, and I didn't know about any of the atrocities they suffered.

Fast forward to history lessons today (at least in the case of the children I work for), they are actively engaging with multiple perspectives. Just the other day, the boy had to re-write a description that only included that of the powerful, rich, white man. He needed to eliminate words and phrases to help him write a more inclusive description. Both children have also come home on numerous occasions telling me what they learned about the indigenous peoples from an indigenous person.

Even though I wouldn't call my history classes propaganda per se, I do feel I was indoctrinated to some extent. Having only learned on perspective and being taught to not question the teacher led to a very difficult "unlearning" in university years.