Lies My Teacher Told Me Analysis

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Brittany Reier October 1, 2014 If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” Repeat again- “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” Countless times are students asked to repeat this phrase at the elementary school level. Yet, little to their knowledge and much to our surprise, Columbus did much more than that. 1492 was a substantial year and Christopher Columbus did a lot more than what children are taught in school. To most people, it is easier to tell the same story known to humans without having to add or change anything. Lies have been told, important concepts have been left out- it is imperative that things are set straight so we know the truth. James Loewen, author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me”,…show more content…
History books immortalize Christopher Columbus as a great hero who was the first explorer to make this journey around the world. We don’t learn about these people- they aren’t in textbooks or are talked about when discussions are occurring. Yet, many of them discovered the Americas before 1492 multiple times. Had Columbus not even sailed, these other explorers would have still discovered the Americas. Columbus’ journey is highly regarded because of Europe’s response, which helped to change the face of Europe and give it more importance. “In a sense, Columbus’s voyage was not the first but the last “discovery” of the Americas” (Loewen, 33). His journey was the final encounter of the…show more content…
Up until fifth grade, they were likely taught the basics of Columbus’ journey and not told what really matters in the long scheme of things. There is a lot to cover in such a short amount of time. The first thing I would recommend is to stick to the basics and the overall main facts, much of which I did in this paper. Fifth graders are at the point in their lives where more intellectual thinking is beginning to take place. Teachers could put together a full circle story of what really happened in the year 1492. Students could then work in groups to speculate why this information was not presented to them before and ask questions that might bring it full circle. Creating a timeline might also help students to remember key facts and figures and keep it in

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