Makes me want to re-read the textbooks of my youth.
Loved this image by David Parkins too:
This fascinating article says that even if textbooks portray one point of view, a teacher might still teach on an opposite view and ignore the one in the text. Yes, textbooks have many problems. The article ends with this sentence: Consequently I want to mention hubski contributor mpoe who has his students substantively edit Wikipedia pages. (Track him down and read his fabulous teaching philosophy.)
I imagine no one has answered your askhubski post because we can't remember most of our textbooks, and I suspect we are not really aware of the biases of our textbooks and the influence they might have had on us. But if you were aware of being shaped by textbooks, I'd like to know.A trip to Wikipedia by way of a smartphone will not necessarily let children work their way out of such dichotomies. But it will help.
I can't say that any one book stands out as "shaping" me, but collectively, there's no doubt that they did. When I read a news article about a current event I often think to myself, "while this make the history books"? Of course, there will not be a "book" as we know it when the next generation is learning their history. But there sure is a lot of power in being the chosen company to write history books for our youth. I have a love of country that comes not just from my family teaching or my experience as a citizen but from the textbooks that instilled these things in me. Such power. Kind of scary.
good point -- one of the big differences between Canada and the US (although other Canadians might disagree) is that Americans seem to be more patriotic and more boostery about the USA than Canadians are about Canada. The history book writers have been trying to make Canadian history more interesting, but our failed revolution of 1837 with its decisive losses at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern (really) never inspired us the way your successful revolutions inspired you.
Manifest Destiny! -something instilled in us at a young age.