In class we discussed the dispute in Texas about what goes into U.S. History textbooks. Can history really be objective? Who gets to decide what curriculum goes into the history textbooks and why do people want to delete the past?
History can never be truly objective. No matter how neutral a person feels about a subject in history they will, most likely, have opinions. This would make a person bias. If I were to say that no political party is right or true, but then I say that I only vote for republicans, then I am not objective. I would be taking a side. Therefore, no one person can be neutral about every aspect in history or everyday life. When the government chooses whether to delete or keep a piece of history that is being biased. Some reviewers want to “replace Thurgood Marshall with Harriet Tubman or Sam Houston”. How is this being objective? It is not, thus, explaining how history can never be fully neutral.
Curriculum is made by the state government. Should the state government, however, tell a school what to or not to discuss. I believe that U.S. history should be about our history and if an event happened in our country, then it should be included in the curriculum. The facts that the government decides to leave out are facts from our background and our past. Why is it being questioned or trying to be erased? For example, a reviewer wrote that Cesar Chavez should be deleted from the history books. This man played a big role in our history. He “led a strike and boycott to improve working conditions for immigrant farmhands”. This is taught in fifth grade to be an example of citizenship. This reviewer believes that this is not an illustration of citizenship, when in fact it is. A man standing up people because he believes in something better is an excellent way to show citizenship. Why should this man, a leader of so many people, be deleted from the entire textbook?
I believe that any type or form of our country’s history should be kept in our books and nothing should be changed or deleted.