BIASES IN HISTORY
EDUCATIORS
One of the most poorly represented
historical events is the first
Thanksgiving. Vera L. Stenhouse
of Rethinking Schools reveals that,
though you may teach this, according
to the Native Wampanoag people and
ancestors of Plimoth settlers, there is
no evidence that confirms that the first
Thanksgiving actually occurred between
pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621.
This idea of a great Thanksgiving
celebration between pilgrims and
Native Americans is usually completely
over exaggerated and misrepresented
(Stenhouse).
According to the Albert Shanker
Institute, history textbooks that you
may teach with and quote, often
depict labor organizations and labor
disputes as always violent when in
many cases they were not (Cole,
Megivern, and Hilgert).
The Albert Shanker Institute also
reveals that the same textbooks
you may teach with also often
leave out how important organized
labor was in gaining multiple
social protections like child labor
laws, Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid, and the Environmental
Protection Agency (Cole et al.).
Mason and Ernst-Slavit explain that, because of how sensitive your language use as teachers is, the
Language Awareness movement began. It first started in the United Kingdom in the 1980s focusing
mainly on Teacher and Critical Language Awareness. This movement was started to prevent you
and other teachers from spreading biases that can easily be instilled in the minds of your students.
The following link can be used to learn more about language bias [http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/
EJ916841.pdf] (Mason and Ernst-Slavit).
According to the American Textbook Council, many
Curriculum supervisors at the district level, that decide
the curriculum you teach, fail to include or evaluate
multiple different sources when selecting textbooks,
making them one sided or lacking the full story (Sewall).
The American Textbook Council makes it known that
various political and religious groups try to use to history
textbooks to impose their own views on your students,
making some historical records extremely biased
(Sewall).
Mason and Ernst-Slavit advise educators to be weary
of categorizing people groups as other, as it creates a
sense of exclusion and encourages a negative view on
said people group, altering the a students perception of
them, when being taught (Mason and Ernst-Slavit).
Be conscious of
your word choice and lan-
guage during lessons because, ac-
cording to Michele R. Mason and Gisela
Ernst-Slavit, many teachers are guilty of
using a certain type of language when teach-
ing that insinuates negative views of Native
American history and other historical events.
For example, you should avoid words such as
we and our when teaching American his-
tory, or the history of your nation, because
it disconnects students who may not be
from there, making the more dominant
group superior in the eyes of
the students. (Mason and
Ernst-Slavit).