21 November, 2005

Don't Know Much About History

I came across a very disturbing story today about a high school history teacher named Joseph Enge. He teaches (at least I think he still does) in Carson City, NV and is a Fulbright Scholar and Madison Fellowship award-winner. From Common Voice:

Meet Joe Enge.

Joe is an award-winning, 15-year veteran history teacher in Carson City who has, among other things, written two history textbooks and served on the 1997 task force which drew up Nevada's history standards. But according to school district administrators, he's a "bad" teacher.

You see, Joe has this crazy idea that American history should include our colonial period, as well as the Revolutionary War period. You know, where the Founding Fathers fought for independence from England and wrote the greatest governing document the world has ever known - the United States Constitution. You know, that period of time which gave us patriot heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Hancock.

And Joe has REALLY ticked off the local school district bureaucrats and the education establishment.

You see, unbeknownst to most parents in Carson City, the school district believes that high school American history should start with the Civil War era, not the days of America's Founding. Indeed, the curriculum forced on history teachers at Carson High School ignores pre-Civil War history completely - other than a little optional "refresher" at the beginning of the school year or if you're in an Advanced Placement class.


After I let the anger dissipate, I am forced to ask, "Why?" Why would a school eliminate the genesis of our country from an American History class? I can just see the kids who graduate from that class looking at 1, 10, 20, or 100 dollar bills and shrugging as they'd have no idea who those men were. Do the history guidelines mean that the school won't teach the Constitution? Why in the name of fuck would you not want to teach students about the founding of this country?! This isn't about what to teach about the Revolutionary period. This isn't about teaching the Founding Fathers as deities vs. Founding Fathers as oppressors. Those sides won't even have a chance to be argued over because the Carson City school board doesn't give a hoot about the creation of the United States of America and its lasting effects. How can you learn about the Civil War if you have no understanding of the events that preceded it? What are they going to tell the students – "Welcome to the first day of class. One day, some cannons fired at Fort Sumter…"? Obviously the school board doesn't care about American history. Do you suppose they'll modify guidelines so that math classes start with trigonometry instead of algebra?

And where are the right-wingers? If you don't fart the correct way, they call you unpatriotic and damn you to hell you've committed an affront unto God. Yet some clowns out west want to remove the Founding Fathers from the curriculum and right-wingers are absolutely silent? WTF?! Come on you conservative Christians! Heed the call and defend the men whom you think made the United States a Christian nation by leaving "God" out of the Constitution! And why is Pat Robertson not admonishing Carson City to not look to the Christian deity if there's a natural disaster? This is just sad. I relay the following at the risk of sounding like an old fart. Which I'm not. Yet.

When I was growing up in the 1980s, I attended public schools in Chicago. There was no Junior High nor any middle schools. Grades K-8 were elementary school while 9-12 were high school. In order to get into the 9th grade, one had to graduate from the 8th. Yes, I got a diploma and got to wear a mortar board at the ceremony and all that good stuff. In order for me to graduate, I had to pass a test on our Constitution. My entire 8th grade Social Studies class prepared me for the test. We started off in the late 15th century and learned about the Age of Exploration. Then came the Colonial Period of our country's history followed by the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States. We spent the final quarter of the year studying the Constitution article by article, section by section, amendment by amendment. The wonderful quality of this class didn't dawn on me for a little over year when I entered the 10th grade. By this time, I had moved from Chicago to rural Wisconsin and found that most of my peers had basically no idea what was contained in the Constitution outside of something about owning guns.

I am used to debates about how American history is to be taught. For instance, should Christopher Columbus be portrayed as a brave explorer or as a greedy racist who helped instigate genocide? Of course, this question won't ever come up in Carson City's high schools because Columbus is being stricken from class. But I can also understand arguments about what is to be taught. There is, after all, only so much time in class to be had. But I am shocked that there is a debate like this about whether or not our country's first 100 years should be taught or not. Beginning an American History course in 1861 is absurd. You teach history so students will be better able to understand the present. Those students will learn about the Civil War, an event that had an enormous impact on our present. But they will not learn about other events that also had great impacts, including the one that had the greatest impact – the founding of our country. Even if you don't delve into the Enlightenment, students need to study our founding, including our State Papers. There would be no outcry over the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans if Jefferson hadn't bought the area in the Louisiana Purchase. What about the Monroe Doctrine? How about Polk and the acquisition of California? The Missouri Compromise? The Civil War, the titular beginning of our country for Carson City, didn't just happen spontaneously, it didn't start in a vacuum.

As far as I'm concerned, Carson City students who do not somehow learn about those missing years of our history shouldn't be allowed into college.

Support Mr. Enge and his students by signing this petition.

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