A Review of 'Lies My Teacher Told Me': The Hidden Truths in History

Introduction

History books have always provided an abundance of information that I have always thought of to be factual but in reality, it was a skewed version of the truth. In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen writes about how textbooks omit information and blatantly provide misinformation to their readers. While reading this text, I came to the realization that I do not know as much as I thought I did, and that what I did learn from my history textbooks was not always accurate. Unfortunately, this is still the case for many students in the United States, students are not able to discern fact from fiction because the textbooks only state facts. The textbooks that school districts provide do not encourage inquiry and when they do it is in the smallest of margins. As a result, that ensues to some teachers educating their students directly from textbooks and not incorporating supporting sources. Writers of history textbooks should not stifle a student’s history education with a narrow narrative, instead, they should encourage inquiry and provide different perspectives. In my reflection 'Lies My Teacher Told Me' essay on Loewen’s text, I will provide my stance on his overall argument, how to prepare my students when encountering history textbooks, and how I will address one of the least covered events in my classroom, the Vietnam War.

Overall Argument

Loewen makes very compelling arguments as to why history is taught directly from the textbooks that are provided to teachers. I believe that Loewen is ultimately focusing the blame on the writers, authors, and publishers of the textbooks and that blame slowly trickles down to everyone that utilizes those texts to educate students. First of all, according to the text, publishers distribute textbooks without regard to verifying if the information within the textbooks is correct and without bias. Publishers do not care what comes out as long as it appeases its audiences or readers (Loewen, 2018, p. 302). To that end, writers of history textbooks are ultimately the ones to blame since they are the ones that are writing skewed and at times false information. I agree with Loewen that writers, authors, and publishers are the ones to blame because they are fundamentally supplying information that is inaccurate or plainly omitting facts or events from our history. In addition, Loewen states, “Textbooks rarely present the various sides of historical controversies and almost never reveal to students the evidence on which each side bases its position” (Loewen, 2018, p. 302). That statement rings true because textbooks do not offer multiple perspectives, instead they lack perspectives. I have not encountered a text that has supplied two or more different views on the same event. I believe that if they would have added differing perspectives, it would have led to empathize with others; which is not what these authors want.

Also, textbooks promote rote learning by mostly supplying facts, dates, events, and historical figures. They rarely add depth or substance to what they present to its readers and when they do add, it is only to promote the United States of America. The textbooks that I have read for my classes were ethnocentric and always portrayed the U.S. as a benevolent one. I can seldom remember if the U.S. was ever negatively portrayed. In the same way, I can honestly say that from all my past history courses I only remember dates and events because rote memorization was pushed and encouraged. I cannot begin to elaborate as to why certain events happened and what they led to, if they led to anything.

Preparing Students to Critically Analyze

Consequently, because the misinformation trickles down to teachers, teachers are also to an extent to blame. Our roles as teachers are to cultivate creativity and curiosity in our students and we cannot do that if we follow history textbooks to a T. Loewen discusses that, “Teachers do not have to know everything to facilitate independent student learning. They can act as informed reference librarians, directing children to books, maps, and people who can answer their questions about history” (Loewen, 2018, p. 358). In order to help my elementary students prepare for this, I will encourage them to read supplementary sources and additionally present sources that are written from a different perspective. I think that offering different sources will make them more receptive and will make history more engaging. For example, depending on the grade I can use DocsTeach.org to create an activity to make learning more interactive for my students. I can also use or have my students explore the National Archives website in order to find primary sources that can help supplement their learning. By providing more information on all the events or historical figures that are being covered in the classroom and asking more in depth questions, I can have my students arrive to their own conclusions of said information. Equally important, is tailoring how I teach and what I teach to my students. If I can tailor the history lessons to them, they will be more apt to learn and remember what I teach them.

Vietnam War

One of the events that Loewen discusses in his text that surprised me was the lack of information or omission of the Vietnam War in history textbooks. When I was in high school, I never questioned the lack of information because to be honest, texts to me seemed like the end all be all. However, there is a reason why textbooks opted not to elaborate or include the Vietnam War, and that is because of the acts that were committed towards the Vietnamese without any valid reasons. Instead, according to Loewen, “…Textbook authors portray the United States basically as an idealistic actor, responding generously to other nations’ social and economic woes” (Loewen, 2018, p. 232). The main reason why the story of the Vietnam War is not told in its entirety is that then the United States will come across as a villain. I believe that the two sides of that conflict have to be presented to the students for them to have a full picture of what occurred. Then, it is up to them to come to derive their own conclusions. I did not know that much of the Vietnam War, however, I recently watched the Hearts and Minds documentary by Peter Davis and that put things into a different perspective for me. I realize that this was an anti-war documentary but it definitely displayed the horrors that were committed by the United States on all the Vietnamese civilians, including women and children.

Having stated that I will not go to the extent of showing graphic images or videos of the war to my elementary-grade students. However, what I will do is include readings from the perspective of the Vietnamese people during the war. Additionally, I will also have my students read historical fiction novels to spark some curiosity and get them to ask more questions about the war. My goal is to have my students research and find primary sources that will enhance their knowledge on the subject and I will be able to attain that by asking essential questions.

Conclusion

To conclude, as a teacher I will encourage inquiry and provide multiple perspectives of historical events. I will also provide primary and secondary sources to enrich students’ conclusions and their own perspectives on the history of the United States. Textbooks overall provide misinformation, which signifies that teachers and students inevitably have to do research on their own in order to gain more insight on history as a whole.

Sources

1. Davis, P. (Producer and Director). (1974). Hearts and Minds [Motion Picture]. Unites States: Warner Bros.
2. Loewen, J. W. (2018). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York, NY: New Press, The.