Preview

James Loewen: Students In Elementary Schools

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
442 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
James Loewen: Students In Elementary Schools
James Loewen was very accurate in his statement that “students in elementary schools and high schools been taught a history that demeans American Indians”. When I was in elementary school (I went to kindergarten in 1990), students where taught that the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower in 1620. Than shortly after making landing they lived in a harmonious co-existence with the Native American peoples. After receiving what could be called an extremely “white washed” or “sugarcoated” version of early American History, high school students (I went to high school in 1998) were told that there were wars with Native Americans. Only they are told that those wars were started by Native Americans attacking white settlers. In the eyes of a Native American
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Intercultural Communication: Video Analysis of Indians, Outlaws, and Angie Debo
    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Intercultural Communication: Video Analysis of Indians, Outlaws, and Angie Debo

    The documentary “Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo” shows Angie Debo as a 98-year old lady, reflecting on her experiences in life. In the documentary she talks about Oklahoma´s history of depriving its five Native American tribes of their land and resources in the 1930s from the perspective of the displaced. Native Americans during this time were seen more than ever as a bounded group by the European Anglo-Americans [in the following analysis, the dominant European Anglo-American group is referred to as whites to simplify the reading]. In comparison to whites who felt superior and avowed to themselves the power to dominate the inferior race, the Native Americans were ascribed a strongly subordinated position in society and were treated in a discriminatory way by the whites.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lakota Woman Mary Brave Bird Analysis
    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page

    Lakota Woman Mary Brave Bird Analysis

    The problem with education in America over the past two hundred years stems its close relationship to brain wash citizens. The American school system has been teaching students one-sided views of history sometimes often complete lies. I was recently read the book Lakota Woman which is a well written memoir by Mary Brave Bird, formerly Mary Crow Dog, a Sicangu Lakota Native American. She discusses the Trail of Treaties in 1972, and how Native culture has been forcefully taken and replaced by Eurocentric Views. She discusses being separated from her family and sent to a boarding school taught by nuns who didn’t allow her to speak her native language for months on end, and then being punished and beat for expressing her personal views. I think…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Seventh Grade By Gary Paulsen
    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Seventh Grade By Gary Paulsen

    In the passage Seventh Grade by Gary Paulsen there are many ways that Terasa and Mr.Bueller help victor become more confident in himself and excited about his seventh grade year. In this passage Teresa is Victor’s crush and Mr.Bueller is his french teacher. Victor receives various information and it gives him confidence and excitement that he will have a great seventh grade year. Teresa gives victor confidence every time she smiles and says hey,but what really gives him confidence is when every students in the classroom including Teresa thought Victor could speak french.…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    James Mother's Experience In Public School Analysis
    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages

    James Mother's Experience In Public School Analysis

    James’ mother’s experience in a public school is very similar to James’ but also has some differences. When James’ mother attended a public school she changed her name from Rachel to Ruth because it seemed less “Jewish”. Ruth was racially divided, with a all white school and a all black school. Ruth only made one friend, a girl named Frances. Ruth was very serious about getting her education. Ruth says, “You’re a human being...Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody.. if you’re a nobody… It doesn’t matter what color you are”(Chapter 10). Ruth hated her father as a child, her father disliked black people so it seemed right for Ruth to marry a black man. Ruth ends up meeting a black man named peter and gets pregnant by him. Ruth’s experience…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Joseph Bruchac Promote Native American Culture
    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Joseph Bruchac Promote Native American Culture

    The author of this book wanted the reader to realize that taking action is always better than not taking action no matter what the outcome is through the quote “Strong words outlast the paper they are written upon” (Children of the Longhouse). What the author wanted the readers to take away from the quote is that no matter what happens to the paper the words on the paper will always be remembered. The author of this book wanted the readers to understand stand that Native Americans reputation have been ruined because they have a lot of damaging images in both books and films. More often than not they are thought to be bad people when they did nothing wrong some may say Americans are bad people because we took almost all of their land and put them in a small area to…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Indian Removal Act Dbq Analysis
    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Indian Removal Act Dbq Analysis

    In “Move the Cherokee to Indian Territory” by Jack Andrews, it states, “We should also remember that these Indians have waged war on America since 1775.” This quote shows that the Americans and the Indians have been enemies since 1775. The article also says, “In 1776 the Cherokees ravaged American settlements in North and South Carolina, killing men, women and children. In many cases their victims were scalped alive and even burned at the stake.” This shows that the Americans are justified for the seeing the Indians as enemies because of the way that the Indians have treated them in the past. It would be madness to invite someone who had kidnapped and murdered a friend to stay at one’s home. The opposing side might argue that Americans have treated the Indians badly as well by cheating them during trading and breaking agreements. However, if the Indians were to move away to the Indian Territory, they would be free to govern themselves and would not have to deal with any or all Americans ever…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Indian Givers Summary
    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Indian Givers Summary

    All the way from the conquistadores to modern time the natives have been exploited and forgotten. But what is really disappointing, is that for the longest time these people have offered a lot to our modern society. And all these years, history books have a lack and inaccurate history of indigenous people in the Americas. These people have been seen as uncivilized, savage people and without recognition for their highly advances they had made. And one of the main reason why history have it all wrong is simple, pride and self-esteem. Let’s imagine a teacher with the intentions to teach and make money out of ignorant children, walks into a classroom, but when he walks in the children are the ones who teaches the teacher how to read, write, and problem solve a math equation. What would be the teacher image to his institution? Even more in depth, how would he feel that in reality he is the real ignorant? Same happen with the Europeans. They walked into America and found a better agricultural system, better architectures, a better pharmacy, and a better many other things. So to put the names of their country high above others, they destroy what seem useless or couldn’t imitate and made a “discovery” that was already discovered by the…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Stereotypes Of Native Americans: Video Analysis
    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page

    Stereotypes Of Native Americans: Video Analysis

    In this video, I learned that the white Americans who were colonizing America saw the Indians differently from themselves. They stereotyped all Indians as savage and uncivilized things. They used these stereotypes because they were unfamiliar with Indian culture. The Europeans were afraid of tthe Indians and as a result of their Ignorance, they tried to kill them off, assimilatet them, and move them off the land. Since they viewed them as unequals due to their skin tone, it was justification for all the wrong ways the Europeans treated the…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bering Strait Theory To Belittle Native Americans
    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Bering Strait Theory To Belittle Native Americans

    But now the problem is, most of us have not been asked this in a respectful manner. Instead, a lot of people have used this Bering Strait bridge theory to belittle Native Americans as "not really native" (a claim that is stupid as well as insulting, since the same scientific facts they use to show the immigration theory also clearly show we have been here at least 20,000 years--longer than men have inhabited England.) Furthermore, missionaries in the past commonly ignored our religious traditions and oral history as inferior to scientific findings-- while at the same time touting their own religious traditions as superior to science. Is it any wonder that this sort of hypocrisy makes Indians angry?…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Holmberg's Mistake: The Changing Lives Of Native Americans
    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Holmberg's Mistake: The Changing Lives Of Native Americans

    Most people first learn about Native Americans in their American history classes. They learn about the arrival of British settlers in the 17th century, and how they interacted violently, and sometimes non-violently, with the indigenous groups. Later on in the course, they learn about how President Andrew Jackson forcefully relocated the Cherokee Indians in the “Trail of Tears.” Rarely do classes broach the subject of pre-Columbian America, a time when the combined population of North and South America may have become as large as 112 million (Mann, 1491, 94). Since the very moment that Europeans arrived in the Western Hemisphere, the lives of Native Americans began to change dramatically. In order to fully appreciate the world we live in now, we must understand how much it has changed and why. Furthermore, by studying the people who, for thousands of years, greatly changed their environment in a…

    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca Analysis
    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca Analysis

    Most of the beginning of American history seems like a race of conquest between the Spaniards and Europeans with Native Americans caught in the crossfire. A seemingly peaceful group of people, the Native Americans were under constant attack from the moment settlers arrived into their territory. Historians can pull from first-hand accounts and primary sources to piece together the history of this nation. One Spainard exploratory mission wrecked off the coast of Florida with about 400 men (OTP S1-6, OTP 22). After long battles and shipwrecks, the expedition was cut short and only four men survived, one an African slave and Spanish explorer named Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. De Vaca wrote a narrative explaining his encounters with Native Americans who had never seen white or black people before. De Vaca described the Indians as “war like people…and protect themselves from their enemies as they would have if they had been raised in Italy and in continuous war” (OTP S1-6). He explains in his narrative…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    One Take-Away From Native American Perspectives
    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages

    One Take-Away From Native American Perspectives

    One take-away from Native American Perspectives that helped me understand Native American history more was the idea of regimes of truth from French philosopher Michel Foucault. This idea was vital in understanding Native American and settler colonial relations. Foucault said, “Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by a virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, its “general politics” of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true; the mechanisms and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements, the means by which each is sanctioned; the techniques and procedures accorded value in the acquisition…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Native American Synthesis Essay
    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Native American Synthesis Essay

    Black Americans, segregation, and slavery. Most of the people who have studied American history recognize the inhumane actions towards people of color during the 1960’s and 1980’s. Yet, people often are not aware of the similar acts perpetrated on the Native Americans during the same period of time. The Native Americans had to suffer their past of external shame imposed on their culture and tradition by the White American society, followed by a coercion of White American culture due to the government proposal of the “Indian problem.” Nevertheless, the Native Americans maintained their pride in their identity and culture internally, within their tribes, and carried out such acts as Ghost Dance, valuing their own tradition. While it may seem paradoxical, both shame and pride of culture and identity simultaneously resonate in Native Americans today as a means of letting go of the unpleasant past and moving on to the future with a new hope.…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Indian Child Welfare Act Research Paper
    • 3653 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Indian Child Welfare Act Research Paper

    Historically, Native American tribes have struggled to keep their unique culture identities. This is largely due to the actions made by the federal and state governments as a result of ethnocentrism and indifference. In order to maintain cultural identity, generational traditions must continue from parents to their children and their children’s children. It is the very essence of how culture lives on in families and generations (Basic, 2004). From the time of the 1800’s, the Boarding School Movement, backed by the Federal Government, began the attempted cultural annihilation of the Native…

    • 3653 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Sanctuary Of School Lynda Barry Analysis
    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Sanctuary Of School Lynda Barry Analysis

    In Lynda Barry’s narrative essay,“The Sanctuary of School,” Barry describes how schools have become a refuge for neglected children across the country, as well as how the ongoing budget, and extracurricular cuts are destroying their refuge. Barry grew up in a neglectful household, which she stated, “The high levels of frustration, depression, and anger in my house made my brother and me invisible,”(pg 1). Being a young child at that time, Barry could only rely on receiving attention at school, since she was nonexistent in her own household. One early morning, Barry arrived at her school before sunrise and was able to assist her school’s janitor. As she continued to aid the janitor, she was…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics