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Re: Defending Ken Burns
In Response To: Re: Defending Ken Burns ()

I understand what all of you are saying. I have lived in Oklahoma nearly my entire life (since age 5) So am often thought of as a Southerner. I was never in a history class where the teachers taught from a northern bias. And that was going through OKC schools, OU for two years, two years at Augustana College in Rock Island IL (northern IL). Guess I was lucky. In fact the prof I had at OU was a "Northerner" but taught the Civil War era from the perspective of states rights over slavery.

A person teaching history has the freedom to teach it how he/she pleases in any public school as long as the objectives of the state dept of education are met.

I must come clean...I am a science teacher, not a history teacher. However, when I taught Earth Science I was required to teach a unit on evolution. I would teach the tenets of evolutionary theory (the main 5 precepts). Then I would go through the examples in the textbook and point out the flaws (very blatant misleading flaws). Then we would talk about what makes a good vs. bad theory. The conclusion was always that evolution as taught in the textbooks is a bad theory. Then we would talk about fossil evidence and the "badness" of the theory woul become even more apparent.
So I was able to teach the theory as taught in the text book. Can't be fired for that. Then I would teach the errors as presented by the textbook. Can't be fires for that. I didn't even have to bring up religion!

Now the reason I bring all this up is that I have a degree in geology and was trained in evolutionary theory. I was able to present the theory because I was trained in it. I also presented all the evidence in a scientific light (even that evidence anit evolution).

Too many history teachers (especially high school ones) have a degree in education with a total of 6 classes (18 to 24 credit hours). Do they have the learning and understanding to really teach Civil War history evenly. If they were raised in the south they will probably teach with an extreme secesh bias whereas a northerner would teach from a yank bias. I think both are wrong.

IN any case...all of us on this board need to stop the name calling.

BTW...it turns out I won't be able to attend Round Mountain a week from Saturday. OSU uncortunately scheduled a men's basketball game at 1 pm and a women's game at 6 pm (or so). I can't pass up $8.50 for 11 or 12 hours. If you are in the Stillwater area, give a call. I'm in the phone book. And I would love to get a chance to meet you!

Mahlon Erickson

Messages In This Thread

Forrest-Ken Burns
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Defending Ken Burns
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Well Said!!! *NM*
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About Fort Pillow
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Re: About Fort Pillow