Upon reading "Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts," truly made me think about history in a new light. I thought about past historians who recorded historical events. Sadly, today, historical figures of significance cannot be agreed upon. "Assume that the Egyptians saw as we see, but could not draw as we can." Rather, we must consider the possibility that they drew differently because they saw differently and that there is something about this way of seeing that is irretrievable lost." This sentence resonated with me days to follow. It made me think of my own accounts and experiences. In a time where we believe we have made social advances toward understanding toward humanity and compassion. Have we really? The summer after, 9/11 I traveled to Greece with friends. This was not my first time and I thought I had a good idea of what to except when it came to cultural nuances and differences. Unfortunately, I hadn't a clue. We were harassed, insulted, ignored, and ridiculed simply because we were from America. Upon discovering we were from New York, it escalated to an entirely new level. As much as we tried, we could never fully understand their hate-nor could they understand or accept us. In this day and age, did I think as a society would have come farther? Undoubtedly-yes. Sadly, have we? As evident by my experience, in some respects, no.
As a elementary classroom teacher, I am not supposed to go into depth on religion-you can touch upon it but never an understanding of different religions. In school, I dare not discuss the holidays. Instead I have a Mexican Fiesta to culminate our unit long study, rather than touching the holidays. It causes to much anxiety and grief from everyone-parents, administration-everyone! However, to the best of my ability I encourage my students to not simply regurgitate information, but think and analyze what they are learning. To question information and try to think beyond what they know. My Greek experience truly taught me this invaluable lesson. I feel my third graders can benefit from my lesson learn to see events through others eyes and analyze information before responding immediately to it.
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Examining events from multiple perspectives is one of the most important skills that a citizen can possess. This skill enables you to move around the landscape and view events from mountaintops and from valleys, to walk in others shoes, and crisscross time placing events in context. This skill can support the construction of narratives and arguments.
Ann, you bring up a really great point on all levels of education. People tend to understand history and cultural situations/practices through their perspective only; we tend to not try to reach out and understand how another's perspective, upbringing, etc. might be different from our own. I think this outreach of understanding will help everyone individually and society as a whole. In essence, it promotes diversity. The challenge is in not being "too accepting", and by that I mean to stand by your beliefs regardless of whether or not others disagree with you, while at the same time respecting the beliefs and understanding of others. I say this because I believe that an "overembracing" of diversity would seem to inevitably lead to disunity. The challenge is achieving a harmony between unity and diversity.
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