I really enjoyed this week’s Socratic Circle because I had never participated in anything like it before. I thought that the topics that we discussed were very interesting and I was surprised that I had never heard of this issue before. After the discussion and hearing my classmates opinions I came to the conclusion that there is no possible way to have a history book with no bias in it. Because of this I believe that students should be presented both sides so that they are able to make their own opinions on what happened. There are always two sides to a story, so both should be given in the textbooks.
I took part in the discussion about the Texas Board of Education changing information in history and economic textbooks. I was shocked that I had never heard of this issue before reading the article in class on Thursday. During the Socratic Circle it was brought up that the people that were trying to change the curriculum in Texas were not even experts on the topics. I thought that it was interesting that this small group has been given so much power that they are able to basically rewrite the history books. One of the board members said that they “are adding balance” to the textbooks, but I don’t think that these people are qualified to do so because they are not experts in these subjects.
Every textbook will have some bias information in it, but if there is more than one opinion given it would help give the students come to their own conclusion on what they believe to be true. I think this would give the students a better idea of what actually happened and would give them more information. Although this would make textbooks much bigger I believe that it would be worth it.
Jillian,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you had to say about the circle and the textbook issue at hand. I too had never heard of this issue, and I agree with the idea that we should be provided with both sides. This would be a much better learning tool for the future students to grasp that I wish we would have had the opportunity to as well.
-Deana
Hey Jillian! I defiantly thought the Socratic circle was cool too. I had never done anything like it either. I thought it was cool to hear everyone’s opinions on the subject. I also agree that we could not create a non biased text book. I think that would make every one happy if it was achieved, but I do not think that anyone is capable of writing one. I liked how you said that both opinions should be given in the text book. Because we can not create a non biased text book, we might as well just try to include every side of the story to make it more equal. I also was assigned to discuss the Texas article and I totally agree with you. I think that the people on the board in Texas were in no way qualified to make that decision. It affects so many other people, it would be wrong for a select group of uneducated people to make a huge decision like that. We have a lot of the same ideas.
ReplyDeleteJillian,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Socratic circle also. It was interesting to hear the other student’s opinions. I agree with you that after the discussion with the class that there is no way to have a non-bias history book. I believe that students should be given all the information and be able to create their own opinions about history. I think that this would be a better way for students to understand history. I also agree with you that it is not right to have non-experts trying to change or take out important parts of history. There is always going to be different sides of history, so both sides should be taught to students.