The Columbus Trap
Remember "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492"--that obnoxious song they'd make you sing in grade school? I caught myself humming it this morning after reading about it on Facebook. Then considered teaching it to my children. But I stopped myself just in time when I remembered that it's part and parcel of the Columbus Trap....
The Columbus Trap is really only one of many aspects to the National Holiday Trap. The National Holiday Trap lures us into thinking that "this year" we are going to tackle teaching the history of things like Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, and President's Day to our very young children (pre-4th or 5th grade). This necessitates us dumbing down the events to the point where some kids think Martin Luther King Jr is still living, because they weren't allowed to learn that he was foully murdered. In public. With lots of onlookers. We also don't learn important aspects of the the history of why Martin Luther King Jr. was important, that Malcolm X was chatting up folks around the same time and why their two philosophies were so different. Nope! We learn that "folks of all colors should just get along". Good advice, and I stand by it, but the why is just as important. Learning ridiculous rhymes to remember dates and names hearkens back to sitting in my 3rd grade class with drool running down my chin because I had fallen asleep with my mouth open. We homeschoolers aren't immune to the trap either; the conversation on FB was pretty much an all-homeschooler event.
I understand the concern behind wanting to teach about these important historic moments/events/sections of time. We just went through a unit on the Alamo with the girls using a very clever book about a woman named Susanna who played an important role in the battle and aftermath. But rather than dumbing it down to the level of "bad guys hurt people and they were not happy about it so they stopped the bad guy" we read about "El Presidente" from Susanna's point of view as a young mother. It's a true story and very gripping. The illustrations gave just enough information too--you got the impression that men had died, but without the gore and "vomit factor". Kids need to understand that our history isn't perky and sparkly--it's bloody and violent, but fascinating. I hated history as a kid; as an adult I am gripped by it. Now we are doing a unit on the attack of the Bay of Pu'uloa, also known as Pearl Harbor. It's told from a child's point of view, of a woman who was a child civilian living in the bay at the time, whose parents chose to stay there after the attack (her mother was a native and it was the only home she'd ever known). But again, it's not dumbed down, there are real pictures of her and her two year old brother in their gas masks, demonstrating how to wear them. Rationing is discussed, as well as scavenging and finding shell casings stuck in the kitchen wall. It rivets my kids to their seats. And, it's true.
So much of what we learned in grade school history was flat out lies, or dumbed down so much that it was nearly a lie. Take Thanksgiving, for example. Cracks me up every time I hear that someone's kid participated in the Thanksgiving Day Play--the Addams Family rendition of it in the movie where Pugsley and Wednesday go to camp is more accurate! We need accuracy, we need truth when talking about history, otherwise people like Martin Luther King Jr. become "that nice man that was in that black and white video we watched who talked about dreaming". And President's Day becomes the day we all get good deals at the car dealership.
My solution is to take these events and find one good honest book with good pictures or honest illustrations to read with my kids over an extended period of time, say 3 or 4 weeks. We talk about each chapter afterward and during. We don't suddenly decide to teach the entire philosophy and journey of Columbus on the 12th of October, because it would be somewhat insulting to him and us--we all deserve to discuss the ramifications of his errors and triumphs at length. And to understand his drive and his blind-sightedness and his brilliance. It gives us the opportunity to look at both sides of the historical coin--our book on Pearl Harbor discusses the Japanese mind-set during this period and there are photos of their side of the event as well. Sure, we aren't always working on a historical moment on the day our nation celebrates it, but who cares? The importance is in the understanding, not to be able to dress up like pilgrims and turkeys and natives on a specific day. Avoid the trap; it's not satisfying to fall into it.
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