Title: Academic Freedom: A Teacher's Struggle to Include "Other" Voices in History.
Abstract: This past semester, I taught three advanced American history classes at a rural school in north Alabama. I had envisioned the class based on the writings of contemporary social studies theorists: multiple points of view, allowing multiple voices in the classroom, less teacher directed and focusing on primary documents. Our class sessions were organized around teacher lecture relative to the Alabama Course of Study and primary documents seminars. (1) The mostly student-led seminars were basically structured discussions about primary document readings. A couple of the outside books that I bought for the class were Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and the companion volume, Voices of A People's History of the United States. My intention was to have these alternative histories contrast with the official history that one would find in typical history books. I specifically chose the works of historian Howard Zinn because he represents a radical, revisionist (even Marxist) version of American history. The students seemed to be excited about the prospect of learning a different kind of history, one that deals with oppressed people of the world, in contrast to the usual accounts of presidents, diplomats, treaties, and wars. I was attempting to teach using a critical, more inclusive approach to American history and social studies. However, I was not prepared for the reaction from individuals in my community who hold fast to the traditional, Eurocentric, male version of history--a perspective that appears threatened by the voices of indigenous or oppressed groups. I had made a point of including documents in the course by conservative historians, including Diane Ravitch's Democracy Reader and her American Reader. Every day's formal lecture came from the material found in the Alabama state-approved textbook; my intention was to provide students with differing sides to our nation's history: the textbook, conservative interpretations (Ravitch), and radical interpretations (Zinn). The objectives from the Alabama Course of Study ranged from the age of exploration through the Civil War and Reconstruction. The primary documents that were used from Zinn's Voices corresponded exactly with the objective under study in my classes. For instance, when we studied the American Revolution, we read Paine's Common Sense from Voices, when we studied Native American removal, we read surrender speeches from Voices, when we studied the Mexican War, we read Thoreau and diary entries from soldiers involved in the conflict. The first night that the books went home with my students, I received a phone call from one set of parents who demanded to know why I had chosen these books for my class. I explained that Zinn represents an alternative position in the telling of American history, and that I wanted to give students another perspective. Because they found the material so objectionable, I offered to provide their child with alternative material. The parents rejected that proposal. I offered to allow them to choose their child's supplemental material. They refused. I even offered not to give their child any additional material, but they would not agree. They did not want anyone in the class reading Howard Zinn's book. Over the next week, the parents pressured the superintendent into removing these books from this advanced, college-prep track course because of what they considered inappropriate content. For the remainder of the semester, 60 copies of Zinn's social history sat on my shelves, unused. I continued to use excerpts from the collection of primary documents found in the companion volume, Voices. I continued to use this particular book (which had been featured in a Social Education book review) because it met the state requirements that I teach primary documents. I used excerpts from this book that corresponded exactly to the Alabama Course of Study and time period under consideration in my classes. …
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 12
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