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From: melyons at adelphia.net <melyons>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:12:41 -0500
Lengthy post here, but I wrote about women's history for so long that it's hard to resist.
Sue?s comment on relentless testing is on target. School reformers think we?ve spent TOO much time on women?s history, minorities, slavery, and so forth, and that?s why current college graduate don?t know much ?real? history. Apparently, reformers beli eve that more testing will somehow eliminate fluff from the curriculum. In 1991, I heard the then-head of the NEH say as much in a presentation she made to teachers. Well, she?s gotten the testing she wanted. Meanwhile, she?s also written a children?s
book about famous women. I?ll let y?all untangle that one.
Reformers are on the right track but for insufficient reasons. Last year I gave a guest lecture to some perfectly intelligent and articulate college seniors at the University of Virginia. All were graduating with liberal arts degrees. Most could not id entify Oliver Cromwell, and they looked at me blankly when I mentioned the Russian Revolution. So I guess it?s true that kids aren?t learning political history, or it?s taught the wrong way, or they can?t remember it. Whatever the reason, Ida B. Wells?s
anti-lynching campaign won?t make much sense to the reader who doesn?t know about the Civil War, Reconstruction, repeal of the Civil Rights Act, Jim Crow, and so forth. Same for Hurston, same for almost every famous woman. So we do need political histo ry. But we also need teachers with a cornucopia of knowledge who are ready to supplement textbooks when necessary.
This is where children?s trade books come in handy--as background reading for teachers. At the risk of sounding self-promoting (something I worry about when I?m not worrying about the Artic thaw), my book on women writers does weave in some political his tory: Keeping Secrets: The Girlhood Diaries of Seven Women Writers, Henry Holt, 1995. Other favorites are Betsy Kraft?s book, Mother Jones: One Woman?s Fight for Labor, Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman, and an all-time fav, Bloomers by Rhoda Blumber g.
Mary
Mary E. Lyons www.lyonsdenbooks.com
Received on Thu 18 Nov 2004 06:12:41 PM CST
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:12:41 -0500
Lengthy post here, but I wrote about women's history for so long that it's hard to resist.
Sue?s comment on relentless testing is on target. School reformers think we?ve spent TOO much time on women?s history, minorities, slavery, and so forth, and that?s why current college graduate don?t know much ?real? history. Apparently, reformers beli eve that more testing will somehow eliminate fluff from the curriculum. In 1991, I heard the then-head of the NEH say as much in a presentation she made to teachers. Well, she?s gotten the testing she wanted. Meanwhile, she?s also written a children?s
book about famous women. I?ll let y?all untangle that one.
Reformers are on the right track but for insufficient reasons. Last year I gave a guest lecture to some perfectly intelligent and articulate college seniors at the University of Virginia. All were graduating with liberal arts degrees. Most could not id entify Oliver Cromwell, and they looked at me blankly when I mentioned the Russian Revolution. So I guess it?s true that kids aren?t learning political history, or it?s taught the wrong way, or they can?t remember it. Whatever the reason, Ida B. Wells?s
anti-lynching campaign won?t make much sense to the reader who doesn?t know about the Civil War, Reconstruction, repeal of the Civil Rights Act, Jim Crow, and so forth. Same for Hurston, same for almost every famous woman. So we do need political histo ry. But we also need teachers with a cornucopia of knowledge who are ready to supplement textbooks when necessary.
This is where children?s trade books come in handy--as background reading for teachers. At the risk of sounding self-promoting (something I worry about when I?m not worrying about the Artic thaw), my book on women writers does weave in some political his tory: Keeping Secrets: The Girlhood Diaries of Seven Women Writers, Henry Holt, 1995. Other favorites are Betsy Kraft?s book, Mother Jones: One Woman?s Fight for Labor, Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman, and an all-time fav, Bloomers by Rhoda Blumber g.
Mary
Mary E. Lyons www.lyonsdenbooks.com
Received on Thu 18 Nov 2004 06:12:41 PM CST
