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Post by Kahlessa on Nov 26, 2007 23:03:42 GMT -5
Here’s an interesting editorial about the teaching of history: History Under Construction in FloridaBy Mary Beth Norton, New York Times, July 2, 2006 As a historian, I love facts. I especially love facts about early America, the subject I have researched, taught and written about for more than 40 years. The Florida Legislature would seem to share my enthusiasm. An education law it recently enacted insists, "American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed" and "shall be viewed as knowable, teachable and testable." The statute places particular importance on the facts of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by the Second Continental Congress two days after its vote for independence on July 2, 1776 — 230 years ago today.
Yet the wording of the law befuddles me. Facts mean little or nothing without being interpreted — another word for "constructed." All historians know that facts never speak for themselves....
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Post by Eleanor on Dec 4, 2007 12:50:09 GMT -5
As you said once Kahlessa, many people complain about revisionist history, but some history needs to be revised. You have to get to the truth, no matter what it is.
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