Information Overload

High school history books should stick to basics

By Anthony J. Bonilla

Many people criticize history textbooks, especially high school textbooks, for portraying American history in an overly positive light. Such presentation does a disservice to high school students, they argue, for it shields them from the “truth.” High school textbooks are therefore over-simplified and do not accurately represent American history. However, these critics don’t understand that many of the facts they wish to include are not historically significant and thus do not deserve reference in the history books. While high school students may not learn every fact, they do learn accurate and relevant history, walking away with images of leaders whom they can admire.

Two examples of historical figures whom high school history books supposedly misrepresent are Hellen Keller and Woodrow Wilson. Each has a “secret” past that is often absent from textbooks. 

Woodrow Wilson is remembered as the father of the League of Nations, the man who took us to Europe to fight for the free world, the man who died from a heart attack and exhaustion. However, he was also a racist who discouraged African Americans from applying while he was the president of Princeton. This is a fairly well known fact even though discussion of the subject is excluded from many textbooks. Many would consider this exclusion a cut-and-dry case of revisionist history. However, what they fail to see is that these facts are not historically significant. His policies impacted the nation in lasting ways, and they deserve coverage in textbooks. His merits in the political arena are outlined as they should be.

Hellen Keller’s life is defined by her victory over adversity and learning to speak, read, and write. She later became a leader for women’s rights and for a less-appealing subject: socialism. Once again, it’s not historically significant to have a discussion of the merits of her socialist advocacy because the merits are very questionable. There seemed to be little impact in the American society from Keller’s participation in the socialist movement. Consequently, it deserves no reference in an American History textbook. 

I am not against the discussion of such facts in history classes. But I do object to high school students being presented overly complicated viewpoints of history. Education is essentially a form of indoctrination: Children attend school to obtain a certain kind of knowledge. As such, the history taught in high schools should be as uncontroversial as possible. Such learning serves as a foundation to further historical investigation. The survey of American History taught in high school is not meant to be an intensive study in each era. That discussion should be left to college classes in which each era can be picked apart and the merits examined intensively. The “purists,” as they view themselves, would have us teach everything according to their rules instead of the rules to which present textbook authors currently adhere. 

In my experience, I loved AP United States History. I was inspired by many of our classic American figures: Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, and the like. These great men were able to accomplish so much in their lifetime and rise in society drastically. They are shining beacons of hope to which people admire. These figures positively influenced American culture. One can always count on such figures to be proper examples of citizenship. Should one look for hope, one need only open a history textbook and relish in the success of the great American Experiment.