In Retrospect: What Aren't We Learning?

In Retrospect: What Aren't We Learning?

A look at James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me

Introduction

     I'm sure that a lot of us who either teach or have an interest in social studies have heard of James Loewen's book Lies My Teacher Told Me.  In summary Loewen contends that American history textbooks have whitewashed events so much that all we learn in school is a sanitized version.  He further alludes that this clean, uncontroversial approach contributes to overall distaste of history by high school students.  Students find it boring because their textbooks only tell a dry, undramatic account of events in the past; too often teachers have fallen into the trap of using reading comprehension questions written to accompany the book's chapters.  

The Focus

     For my purposes, I'm not going to dwell on the overall approach Loewen takes to history so much as focusing in on a single chapter.  Consider it kind of a case study on his work to see what comes of a smaller sample size.  To that end I have elected to look at Loewen's chapter on Columbus entitled, 1493: The True Importance of Columbus.  Now Columbus is one of the monoliths of American history whose story is very much sanitized.  What few things I recall learning about him were in elementary school and amounted to, "In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."  That's it, just that he was a brave explorer who "discovered" America.  This is exactly the presentation of the man which Loewen attacks, and it was interesting to see just how he would do it.

What does it look like?

     In the chapter Loewen first references a selection of American history textbooks and what they say about the famous explorer.  In summation he finds that they largely perpetuate the myth that he was the first and/or most important European to discover the Americas, as well as proving the earth was round.  Throughout the chapter he goes on to attack these assertions using a variety of sources as textual evidence.  For instance he cites studies that suggest there may have been up to 15 different groups or personages who traveled to the Americas, many long before Columbus was even born (p. 40-41).  Loewen also does a decent job of going through each of these entries to discuss how much veracity the particular claim has in truth.

Among other possibilities, Loewen cites that vikings did in fact establish a settlement on Newfoundland.

     With regard to the true legacy of Columbus he cites many different sources which give a fuller picture of who the man was.  He uses past writers' work to support disproving of typical claims repeated by textbooks, such as a 1915 writing that proved trade had in fact not been cut off by the Turkish capture of Constantinople.  Most intriguingly to me was his use of Columbus' own diaries to support his claims that the man was directly involved in the development of the slave trade in the West Indies and was motivated by greed.  Direct sources can paint a more detailed picture than simply restating facts.  Myths about Columbus being the only sensible man in his crew, that the crew was about to mutiny after sailing through rough weather and that Columbus died poor are all shattered with similar textual evidence.

     This is all fascinating but it does raise a question that a number of reviews online have been concerned with: how objective is Lies My Teacher Told Me?  The author does make it clear that he has a problem with the established history texts, the picture they paint, how they are written and the effects such history has on students studying it.  These are legitimate concerns of course but it does reveal a bias in favor of revisionism and underrepresented groups.   When discussing the alternative explorers he contrasts the treatment of various claims  using quotes from textbooks to reveal a bias toward the possibility of other Europeans traveling to America over that of Afro-Phoenecians.  He attacks the established Eurocentric depiction of Columbus as a great explorer who was the everyman of his day, barely getting the support he needed and then dramatically avoiding disaster en route to opening the door to a new period of European exploration.  In short he exposes his own biases while revealing those held by textbooks; however, does this negatively effect the chapter's message?

Conclusions

     Ultimately I believe the book has more positive than negative elements.  Loewen, if nothing else, raises the very important question of how our history is being taught.  Emphasizing other explorers who may have reached the Americas before Columbus could have a lot of practical use in diverse classrooms.  Students may be apt to find more interest in content if there are people they can relate to.  Including the possibility that Afro-Phoenician, Japanese, Polynesian and West African people encountered America allows for more diversity in history.  Offering a full picture of Columbus' exploits, including what the man himself wrote, provides opportunity for much deeper critical thinking. Instead of 'look how great he was!' we can ask 'how did Columbus impact the people of America and European expansionism?'.  I would advise that as in any case we find other sources of information to corroborate the claims Loewen makes, though.  Just as he uses multiple sources of information in discussing Columbus, we should uses multiple sources of information to look at whatever topic we're studying. 

     

     As always I invite comments and questions about this.  Does Loewen's treatment of Columbus reveal any bias or flaws in methodology?  What impact does his writing have on how we teach social studies?