Something strange happened this weekend, and my in-laws, DH and I are at a loss to explain it.
We all went to see Twilight with my 18 year old college-student daughter and my 13 (almost 14) year old 8th grade son. Mind you, they are both quite intelligent kids. All six of us have read the book.
After the movie, we were discussing the characters. The conversation went a little like this:
"I didn't picture Eric as Asian."
"Yeah, I didn't picture Tyler as African American."
"How on earth did they decide that Billy and Jacob were American Indians?"
My in-laws, DH and I were dumbfounded. Neither of my kids figured out that in the book, words such as "tribe" "reservation" and Quileute had anything to do with American Indians. They claimed that it was never presented in the book that they were Indians. We asked what they thought a reservation was and they had no idea.
So here is my question to history teachers: Has it become politically incorrect to teach our kids that early Americans forced native Americans onto reservations? Do they not teach that there are many, many different Indian tribes?
I have to admit, I've always *known* about reservations, but I don't think it was really taught that they were forced onto them until much later. I knew of the Trail of Tears because we had family affected by it so it was part of our oral history, but I don't remember it coming up in a course until my last year of college in a course called Social and Political Implications of American Music.
I'm not sure I can say what I feel about history education in k-12 schools
I knew about reservations and native americans because that was part of our heritage.
I took a class in college about native american history/culture. It was an entire semester and really only scratched the surface. Its a shame that we don't teach about the entirety of our history.
I graduated HS in 2000, and would have known that "reservation" and "tribe" meant a character was American Indian. We did our first unit on American Indians that I remember in 4th or 5th grade and they continued every 3-4 years or so. So if it has changed, the change is recent.
I know my younger siblings have had lots of units on Native American history and culture when they were in elementary school in both Alaska (well, they are in a native village) and in Mississippi (which also has a rich Native American history).
So here is my question to history teachers: Has it become politically incorrect to teach our kids that early Americans forced native Americans onto reservations? Do they not teach that there are many, many different Indian tribes?
ANGIE HERE-
I haven't seen the movie, but have finished the first two books and I definitely figured out that Billy and Jacob were Native Americans.
I can see why your children had no idea what a reservation was. When I taught 5th grade, we covered the Native Americans in Social Studies in the different regions throughout the US, but never any mention of reservations. It was more of an overview.
I know that in 8th grade, they cover the Trial of Tears, but I don't know how deep they delve into the subject.
As far as it being politically incorrect to teach about Americans forcing the Native Americans onto reservations - absolutely not! Whenever appropriate, I will discuss it with my class. It is difficult because I teach 6th grade ancient civilizations.
I'm getting my teaching credentials now and student teaching. We are told to focus on the California content standards. There is so much to cover that most topics seem to be more of an overview than in depth study, especially since the focus is on math and language arts. There are also the restrictions on what some people deem proper or not to teach our kids. Right now everyone seems to be so concerned with standardized test scores everyhting else takes a back seat. All teachers, schools, districts, etc. are different though so it depends on where you are at.
I haven't read the books, but my daughters has read each of them multiple times (4 - 5 times each). She also didn't realize they were Native Americans until she was reading some fan fiction and comments online. She was so surprised to find out they were Native Americans. After seeing the movie (but not reading the book, mind you) I can't see how she missed it. Interesting question Allison. I know the kids had units on Native Americans when they were younger ( 2 - 3 grade and it always fell around the fall) and they learned a little about Mississippi Indians in Mississippi Studies (9th grade), but I don't think any of it had much depth to it.
Interesting though how neither of our kids realized that.
By the way, I loved the movie, and now want to read the books. I've just got to fit them into all of my other reading!
Jen~wow. Holocaust. I remember sitting in 7th grade history class and getting sick to my stomach watching documentaries on the Holocaust. I'll have to ask my kids how much they were taught about it.
Nelie~I do think this is probably something that is glossed over in school. I don't remember my kids telling me they were studying it at all. But I do remember my DD's 3rd grade class spent almost an entire year studying penguins. Penguins!
Amanda~I know my kids learned about the native Americans in regards to the Pilgrims, but of course this was years and years before the non-natives forced them onto reservations. Another discussion for the kids.
Zen~I'm sure the education system is different in each state. But US history should have it all.
Angie~it seems to me that when the kids were studying history in 5th grade, it all centered around the Missions here in California. Again, too early for the reservations. Glad to hear it isn't politically incorrect! And Trial of Tears I've never heard of. I know the kids have read books about native Americans, but this was not one.
Bikini~California teaching standards. I really can't believe that they are helping all that much. Sometimes I think they try to cram too much stuff into too short a time.
Tammy~I'm so glad my kids weren't the only ones to miss this!
I guess there are a lot of things historically that our kids may have missed out on learning about. I'm not sure how much they know about the Japanese internment camps, either. I mean none of it is pretty, but it really needs to be taught so it doesn't recur.
You know, NA culture was always a part of my local culture in W. Colorado and it was part of the cirriculum, but it was always presented in a very rosy way. We learned a lot of the culture, but none of the reality of what happened and certainly nothing of the brutality. I think that's where the flaw is for me: that we go to such great lengths to protect our pride in our history, but as you said Alinnell, taking little measure to teach the realities in order to prevent it from happening again.
I know my younger siblings have had lots of units on Native American history and culture when they were in elementary school in both Alaska (well, they are in a native village) and in Mississippi (which also has a rich Native American history).
I'm not sure there is any part of the US that doesn't have a rich Native american history...
I'm not a history teacher YET, but I believe that (at least in New York State, where I will be certified) information about Native American culture and history is a required part of the curriculum. There has been a major shift in the last few years to de-Westernize and de-Europeanize history, so I find it odd that neither of this kids had any idea what the words tribe and reservation implied about a character in a book.
But then... I have to say that I have read books and have occasionally conjured images of characters in my mind that have conflicted with how the character is described. I don't know why it happens, but even if the author says a character is blonde, I might nonetheless persist in imagining the character brunette anyway.
...But not because I didn't understand what "blonde" meant lol
I have a degree in History (although I don't teach, or really use my degree in my everyday life).
Honestly I don't remember being taught much about American Indians in school. Most of what I know is from my own reading and interest and from my family heritage (I'm 1/8 Cherokee and a registered member of the Cherokee Nation).
But then I'm constantly amazed by what Americans don't know about history and about American history in particular. Many people have no idea about the Internment camps from WWII either. And a lot of people have no idea about our own immigration history - the Chinese immigrants and how they were treated, how Irish immigrants were discriminated against (which is funny because nowadays everyone wants to be Irish! ), etc.
I honestly sometimes wonder what *is* taught ... because it isn't the full picture of American history, that's for sure.
I don't remember much about how immigrants were treated being taught in school other than immigration happened. I remember the internment camps in high school american history but I think it was something mentioned but not talked about too in depth.
Some things amaze me are the things I learn that I thought I should've been taught. One thing was about Israel being formed after WW2. I remember one of the cable TV channels having a very good special for the 50th anniversary of Israel. WWII and the holocaust were taught in school but I have no memory of what happened to the jews after WWII being taught. I would imagine that a country being formed by a group of persecuted people would be a big deal.
As for people wanting to be Irish, it may be people trying to get in touch with their history or what not. I think its cool if people want to identify with part of their history. I never noticed it myself other than there seems to be a lot of celtic jewelry around.
We've been taking a vacation near Mammoth the past couple of years, and since we live in Southern California, we drive past the internment camps. It is sobering to see.
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