History: Points of View, Biases and Perspectives

Although I cannot say that I have many personal experiences with different points of view, biases and perspectives on history, I am able to reflect on what I know about differences in the way people perceive history. In this day and age, students in every classroom will be extremely diverse as a result of immigration and large socioeconomic gaps. Since different countries and cultures view history different for many reasons, I can foresee it being sometimes difficult to reach all students on the same level in terms of history instruction. For example, what native born Americans think about Independence Day and the American Revolution might not mean a lot to a child born in another country, other than the fact that they are now living in a free country. Students of Native American heritage may view the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal Acts differently than students who do not have the same ancestry. These are just a couple of examples that we, as teachers, must understand because we may not view history in the same light as our students who come from different backgrounds and cultures.

Having said that, it is important that we keep an open mind when teaching history and understand that historical facts do not waver, but perspectives, biases and points of view differ widely. It is important that we do not voice our own personal opinions about certain events in history to our students, because our job is to teach them the facts in order for them to form their own opinions.