If We Knew Our History - Zinn Education Project Monthly Column

Presented by the Zinn Education Project
A Collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change

How Not to Teach About the Iraq War

By Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Schools curriculum editor and
Zinn Education Project co-director

U.S. marines entering one of Saddam Hussein's palaces during Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003. Photo: Wikipedia.

As we watch the horrors of war escalate in Iraq, it's worth pausing to note how profoundly corporate textbooks mis-educate our students on the years of warfare in Iraq. A widely used world history textbook, Holt McDougal's Modern World History, includes exactly one "critical writing" activity on the Iraq war:

Imagine you are a speechwriter for President Bush. Write the introductory paragraph of a speech to coalition forces after their victory in Iraq.

If more people in the United States knew our history, we would not have allowed the U.S. government to punish Iraq with deadly sanctions, to invade Iraq, or to wage economic warfare with radical free market policies. And if we knew our history, we would not allow propaganda to substitute for analysis in U.S. textbooks. To make sense of the bloody internecine fighting we see unfolding now, students need honest, clear-eyed history.

Continue reading Rethinking Schools curriculum editor Bill Bigelow 2013 Zinn Education Project column at: Common Dreams | Huffington Post.

Related Resources at the Zinn Education Project
	Teaching About the Wars Teaching Guide. Edited by Jody Sokolower. A collection of Rethinking Schools articles and lessons for K-12 on U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan and the Middle East.		Howard Zinn on War Book - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, intro by Marilyn B. Young. Essays spanning 1962 to 2006 that examine specific wars, wartime incidents, and the force of non-violence to move beyond war, if we are to survive.

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	The goal of the Zinn Education Project is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history. www.zinnedproject.org