“The absence of intellectual excitement”
[1] in
history education represents a major flaw in today’s education system. Many
students find class boring, but that’s not completely their fault. According to
Ken Robinson, today’s education system was created to meet the needs of the
industrial revolution. [2] That
is why today, we study subjects that are somewhat irrelevant. We grow up
without questioning the education system about why there is a need to study
such subjects. However, the set of subjects that are studied currently are only
one idea, and it is not an absolute idea. If there were no industrial
revolution, perhaps we would not be studying some subjects we study today.
Because
we study such subjects that are not aligned with our values or interests, many
find it hard to be excited about studying and therefore, have a negative image
towards studying. Moreover, we are forced to memorize “facts”, or pieces of fractured
information to get good grades on tests. Today’s education forces us to
regurgitate undigested information; therefore it does not become a part of us,
which is like food and the body. Food that is digested is turned into nutrients
and taken into the body, becoming a part of the body. Food that is not digested
and regurgitated does not. This does not
work well with how humans learn. This is why there are many people that do
horrible at school, but excel and have extraordinary knowledge in another field
that is not taught in school. There is obviously an absence of intellectual
excitement.
Loewen
does well in bringing in new perspectives to history, or introducing
intellectual excitement to the readers. That is probably why this book is a
bestseller and is considered a well written book. The information presented
does follow a pattern, as some students have pointed out. However, it does not
fail to introduce students to eye opening information. The job of Loewen is not
to introduce a balanced view on this topic, but to offer rather a biased view.
Otherwise, the title of the book wouldn’t be as so. Balancing the information
is our job as readers, and recognizing that the author is going to biased is
the first step. I think that overall Loewen does a good job in presenting the
information in somewhat of an entertaining way.
(image source: http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/19790494.jpg)
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