Lies My Teacher Told Me

James Loewen has a fascinating book called Lies My Teacher Told Me which addresses the common misrepresentations and falsities that U.S. History books espouse. He has a full section on why teachers continue to promulgate these versions of history, including that they do not know any better, they avoid controversy and they simply believe it to be true. To me this is really representative of the circular way that beliefs work. We learn our beliefs from our environments and our social surroundings from the moment we are born and those environments are different for everyone. Inherently, teachers bring beliefs into their teaching and their classrooms, and that influences their students, whether they know it or not. This works not only with curriculum, but about perceptions of the learning process in general and explains why we have so many students who are unengaged in their own education. This particular book focuses on history teachers and curriculum but it's true for all subjects and the socialization process that all students go through.