There are many dangers of having only a single story. For example, is there was ony one side of a story, then the story that is being told would most likely be biased. Since it is biased, the likelihood of the story being all truth is slim to none. By only hearing one side of the story, you are only able to hear what the teller wants you to hear and often restricts you from hearing the whole truth about what happened. In our discussion, an example of hearing only one side of the story is happening in Texas. The textbooks veing produced are now being changed and showing only conservative ideas. They are taking away from the whole truth an adding what they deem important or neccesary. Another idea was proposed by Kristen Gardner who is a proffessor of history. She believes that we should not only be taught about dates and events, but we should learn more in depth about why things happen. In doing so, there is much more critical thinking and helps one understand events that happen as a whole versus just what the books teach or say. She not only preaches this, but she believes in the intergration of more multi-cultural historical figures. She believes that we must learn more about people such as women, or people of other races or colors. As a result, i believe that we should not just learn about one side of a story, but learn more about thhe events as a whole and understand why they happened.
p.s. Sorry about the late post. My internet has been down so I have not had access at home, and the school library blocks this site.
Wow, Matt. Well, first off, I just want to point out the spelling mistakes; I know you write better than that. Anyways, your response is very professional-like, if I must say so myself. You had a good control over your words and there was a flow to what you were saying. It was smart of you to include the things we discussed over in class. It produced more back-up to what claims you made and what commentary you put in. I do agree with your opinions because we are all, somewhat, along the same train of thought. Of course, I also believe that the way a teacher teaches is important, and that we should learn more about history as a whole; how we should understand it and take it all, not as puzzle pieces, where we the students have to cram it together, but as a straight-out picture.
ReplyDeleteHello Matt!
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate the fact that you implemented our discussion in class to the video about the dangers of a single story. Both of these work well together, and you did a good job analyzing the two of them.
I also love how you mentioned the woman who proposed the idea for more critical thinking in classrooms. I agree with her idea that students will get more out of learning in schools if they are taught to actually think instead of merely memorizing dates and formulas. I feel that the grading scale found in most educational institutions discourages critical thinking, however. But I also find it hard to believe that students would respond well to learning without receiving grades.
I also agree with the idea of learning more than just one side to a story. If we all attempted to learn a little bit more about other cultures, perhaps our harsh judgments would not be stuck so firmly in place.
Good job on this!