Well, certainly, although perhaps, ironically, not in the sense you imply.

Fred Arthur Bailey's terrific essay, first published in the VMHB under the
title "Free Speech and the Lost Cause," on the teaching of history in
Virginia from the 1880s to the 1930s is on point here.  Warren Hofstra and
I republish it in our forthcoming VIGINIA RECONSIDERED:  NEW HISTORIES OF
THE OLD DOMINION.

The negotiation of history is an interesting and complex story, and well
worth retelling.  It has its own history--the SOLs are hardly a new
impulse.  I think the subject warrants more discussion, not to mention
research and analysis.

Part of the difficulty is that we don't agree on *why* we study our own
past.  Lacking a consensus about ends, we have enormous difficulty
conducting a rational discussion about means.

Perhaps this is something useful to which our Listserv can contribute?  Why
*should* our students bother with something so "useless" as history?
Obviously I don't think it is useless, and my argument about the utility of
history is Jeffersonian (I would refer folk to Michael Kammen's eloquent
argument for the importance of history, in PEOPLE OF PARADOX).  But
Jefferson is not the only game in town.

Warm regards,
Kevin

--On Thursday, February 27, 2003 12:29 AM -0800 Maitland Westbrook
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The victor gets to write the history and text books.
>
> M. Westbrook
>
> --- "COUNTRY.GARDENS" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> If the Emancipation Proclamation wasn't a legal or moral action, why are
>> we
>>  teaching our children that it was pivotal?
>>                                         Anne
>>
>> Anne,
>> Simply because we are now teaching something and teaching it as being
>> "pivotal" does not necessarily mean that it IS or WAS ever
>> pivotal.......all
>> it means is that is how we are now instructing our children to perceive
>> that
>> action.
>> It's all relative!
>> It all depends on who it is that is creating the spin.
>> Deane Mills
>> Miz Gardens
>>
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
>> instructions
>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
>
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--
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of History, MSC 2001
James Madison University
Harrisonburg VA 22807
Phone:  540/568-6306
Email:  [log in to unmask]

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