It’s all in the positioning. Say “I think there is merit in understanding cultures/history beyond that of Western Europe” (the bulk of any history I was taught) - great, I’m all over that. Sign me up. This will be great.
The moment you throw the resentful “Western imperialism, neo-liberal politics, and oppression under racist, sexist, classist, heteronormative and homophobic, trans*phobic, queerphobic, ableist, nationalistic, xenophobic systems, which perpetuate conquest, genocide of indigenous peoples, and pervasive systemic inequities” at me, you’ve just turned me off. Completely.
Seems like lots of dead white men built these universities you’re privileged to study at. And not all of them were perfect. Oh well. Maybe you’re not so perfect either. No one is.
The thing is, Seattle U is a very liberal, warm and welcoming school to people of all races/sexualities. It’s a liberal student’s dream, in a very open minded city. They’re all about diversity and globalism, with tons of options on taking many types of classes. It’s quite ironic, really.
I guess what these Seattle U students find missing is what they feel is righteous hatred against the white guy. Why should they be required to take classes about anything the white imperialists have done? I feel badly for the many Seattle U students who are working hard to learn and get their degree, as this shouldn’t reflect upon everyone.
I’m not starting a political argument, but our country is a republic not a democracy. Our government was set up to prevent tyranny by the majority. Now we are heading towards tyranny by the minority. I’m afraid this is not going to end well as can already be seen in this election year.
I so agree with this. My kid’s HS cut out most european history to teach African nations history. The thing is there many be more than one nation their history is quite similar in modern days, exploitation and dictatorships repeated all over with jus names change. It’s not intellectually stimulating not to mention students are quite ignorant why and how we are where we are, how the economy and social structure evolved side by side and how democracy finally became dominating social structure. How is that good? How does that prepare our kids to be world citizens? We need our kids to understand when they hear wealth disparity what that means why it’s bad and what it was in the history, etc. for example. At my kid HS, they somehow managed to turn Euro into some kind of African studies and european lit to black american lit. It’s absurd.
“Like it or not, history, politics, and economics have a lot to do with power relations. Historically, white males have predominated in the wielding of that power, given their greater access to education, wealth, and opportunity. Cutting them out of the narrative makes no sense. Nor does it make sense to teach about the rise of industrial capitalism without including the history of African slavery which undergirded capital accumulation in Europe.”
Interesting comment. Perhaps somebody can give us a primer on who was involved in slavery in Europe, when it ended and its relationship to the industrial revolution. I don’t believe that it was primarily based on African slavery.
Ultimately, the real equality will have to earned. We will all be equal when we all pull our weight. Yes, the society should do its part to make it feasible by providing equal opportunity and encouragement through affirmative action.
I am sooo for this. Tired of HS’s and colleges only teaching about European history. In my history class when I was a freshman, the teacher didn’t even talk about slavery.
I am curious as to what extent this all differs geographically. Growing up in Philly, my American history lessons were very focused on colonial times, the Rev War, the Constitution, Continental Congress, Ben Franklin, etc. When I lived in MO, there was a lot of Lewis and Clark / gateway to the west. I find my kids here in IL had far more Civil War / Lincoln history than I ever had. I wonder if this general pattern is true.