I was so disgusted in class yesterday (the lesson) I nearly puked (REALLY)

[sacase]

If you have a problem with his cirriculum, it is well within your right to speak with him, or with an administrator. You don't have to wait until the end of the year. No student should have to suffer through a class that makes him or her so clearly upset. As others have said, I'm sure you can find a sympathetic ear.

Problem is that if he speaks out against the teacher the school will take it out on him. My mother commented on that if parents cause problems for the school, the school causes problems for the kids. Its all very political.

[Koolblue13]

If you want a biased opinion of the Japs, ask an older chinese guy what he thinks of them. You will see some serious hate.

[endzone_dave]

I never even heard about the Nanking Massacre until I was an adult. When it comes to history, our school system is pathetic.

[headexplode]

Problem is that if he speaks out against the teacher the school will take it out on him. My mother commented on that if parents cause problems for the school, the school causes problems for the kids. Its all very political.

I think it depends on the administrators. There are those that are receptive to the concerns of students and parents. Whether it's worth taking that risk is another matter, but if the student is that upset about it, he should stand up and say so. Just my opinion, though.

[Prosperity]

If you feel you and others have been wronged then stand up and say something about it.

What are they going to do, beat him up? Give him bad grades?

[Destino]

History in schools is always interesting:

- If you teach anything other than the US view of things, it's propaganda. There is irony in this statement.

- If you teach any point of view you are accused of bias. They are right.

History to be understood properly need to be viewed from many different points of view. Any conflict would look completely different when viewed through the eyes of the winning side, the losing side, and a nuetral party. Everyone would argue their view is the accurate view of the war and the others are simply arguing their side of things.

History, in my opinion, should be a debated subject in the classroom. Assign groups of three to research three point of view and put together a written debate. Kids would certainly have a stronger grasp of what really happened.

[DjTj]

I never even heard about the Nanking Massacre until I was an adult. When it comes to history, our school system is pathetic.

Well, to be fair, China didn't do a very good job of publicizing it (or really anything) through the communist-run media, so the story we heard was generally from the Japanese side.

There's a reason that Iris Chang's 1997 book was entitled "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II." The world had basically forgotten about it, and it's not really the result of any particular bias ... just that very little information came out of China for a very long time.

[PleaseBlitz]

Based on the first post, SOMEBODY is teaching you pretty well. Thank them for putting you ahead of the curve.

Sometimes you are going to run into subpar teachers. Its because we dont pay teachers enough.

[Corcaigh]

You should check the syllabus - my daughter has taken AP World and is taking AP US currently but I don't know if she'll be taking this class. I vaguely remember reading the outline for the post WWII course and remember it included themes of the post war counter culture, nuclear proliferation, the Cold War, Civil RIghts Movement etc. I thought at the time there might be some interesting class discussions.

Based on what your teacher has introduced so far you might be in for an interesting term :laugh:

[81artmonk]

You have to realize that alot of teachers today, not all, but most, especially in college are left overs from the 60's. They have the mentality that america is bad.

I would suggest taking a stand and letting this teacher know that you are not a mind numbed leeming who can't think for himself.

Argue, valid points and wrong points the teacher tries to push as "A version of history".

[Bang]

I do think that the art, cartoons, editorials of a time period can be used to take an ethnographic snap shot. Remember, the eugenics movement was big in this country too and actually continued into the 1970's. It wasn't only the Nazis that did the monkey/jew evolutionary comparisons.

There was a purpose behind these cartoons. They were meant to be offensive and to de-humanize the enemy so we wouldn't feel sorry for killing them in the war they began. As awful as it is, the cartoons were meant to portray them as sub-human, monkey-like and ugly to foster a hatred for them in the minds of the American people.

And regardless of what this teacher said, it was done so we could do a job that was necessary, and as we saw, required the cooperation and support of practically every American in one way or another.

After the war, those portrayals pretty much ended. And the way we've rebuilt and nurtured Japan back on her feet should be a testament to "no hard feelings"

~Bang

[Burgold]

There was a purpose behind these cartoons. They were meant to be offensive and to de-humanize the enemy so we wouldn't feel sorry for killing them in the war they began. As awful as it is, the cartoons were meant to portray them as sub-human, monkey-like and ugly to foster a hatred for them in the minds of the American people.

And regardless of what this teacher said, it was done so we could do a job that was necessary, and as we saw, required the cooperation and support of practically every American in one way or another.

After the war, those portrayals pretty much ended. And the way we've rebuilt and nurtured Japan back on her feet should be a testament to "no hard feelings"

~Bang

Agree and disagree. Many of those stereotypes could be seen in Charlie Chan films and with mainstream comedians like Jerry Lewis heading deep into the 1950's. I do agree that "the cartoons and humor" was often designed purposefully, but they were also a reflection or perhaps an exaggeration of what was already there.

That's why I think they're a snapshot. I don't think they tell the whole story, but you can use them as a puzzle piece. For example, those cartoons wouldn't fly as well today, even if we wanted to galvanize people against an enemy. In fact, we saw almost the opposite effort to try to make sure that we made a distinction between Muslims and terrorists.

[Predicto]

I also wonder if the original poster heard everything in the lecture accurately, or was letting his own anger about his liberal teacher color what he was hearing.

For example:OP says that "we were told by our teacher that the Japanese were libertating southeast asia and the pacific from european imperialism."

It is well known that the Japanese USED this liberation excuse as a justification for their invasion.

Did OP hear the teacher say that this was the actual "reason" for the invasion, or did the OP hear the teacher talking about the "justification" for the invasion and jump to the conclusion that the teacher endorsed this claim as accurate?

I dunno. Maybe I have become too cynical so that I don't trust anything anyone says happened anymore. If the OP's account is accurate, then he is correct that the teacher went way over the line and was not at all objective.

[No_Pressure]

Yeah, rasict Americans caused the war in the pacific...did he mention everything leading up to war? The oil embargo, invasion of Manchuria, throwing Chinese babies and catching them on bayonets? Surely he likened the firebombing of Tokyo to the firebombing of Dresden? I love how the Japanese are replacing the imperialistic powers of the west in the Southeast Pacific...but what are they replacing it with? Their own form of imperialism... Japanese liberation in WW2 was as much of an oxymoron as German liberation or Russian liberation. Give me a break.

Were there things the U.S. did wrong on our side of the war? Absolutely. Racism and internment camps are definitely an issue to be talked about in the political scope of the war in the Pacific...it just sounds like your history teacher has an agenda of sorts. History teachers are supposed to present the facts for everything they teach and allow their students to draw their own conclusions on things. That doesn't sound like what he's doing at all.

I would be pissed if I was stuck in that class. It really frustrates me when I get stuck in a class with a teacher that teaches their opinion. The general population of apathetic or dumb students just go along with it for the grade, and the ones that do care either shut up and take it or try to argue and get in trouble.

[Air Force Cane]

Welcome to the wonderful world of revisionist liberal re-education and propaganda my young Jedi.

Remain vigilant- it gets worse in college.

[skinfan133]

I also wonder if the original poster heard everything in the lecture accurately, or was letting his own anger about his liberal teacher color what he was hearing.

For example:OP says that "we were told by our teacher that the Japanese were libertating southeast asia and the pacific from european imperialism."

It is well known that the Japanese USED this liberation excuse as a justification for their invasion.

Did OP hear the teacher say that this was the actual "reason" for the invasion, or did the OP hear the teacher talking about the "justification" for the invasion and jump to the conclusion that the teacher endorsed this claim as accurate?

I dunno. Maybe I have become too cynical so that I don't trust anything anyone says happened anymore. If the OP's account is accurate, then he is correct that the teacher went way over the line and was not at all objective.

no i have the notes i had to copy word for word from class. thats where I got this stuff. I was so angry I made sure to write it all down so that I had proof.

[skinfan133]

Welcome to the wonderful world of revisionist liberal re-education and propaganda my young Jedi.

Remain vigilant- it gets worse in college.

lucky for me I'm going to VMI

[rincewind]

lucky for me I'm going to VMI

So you're just going to get a version of history that is more in line with your thinking as is. All teachers conservative or liberal put some matter of spin on history - it is VERY hard to find a non-revisionist history being taught.

[skinstzar]

I am interested in what the other kids in your class thought about the lesson. You obviously have knowledge on the subject that is above and beyond what one should expect from today's 18 year old. If the other kids were lapping it up like a cat at milk bowl then that is truly a shame. If they were challenging the teacher and seeming to form their own oppinion then there is hope.

[Predicto]

no i have the notes i had to copy word for word from class. thats where I got this stuff. I was so angry I made sure to write it all down so that I had proof.

Oh, I'm sure that your notes say that, and that is what you think you heard. And I'm not calling you a liar, either. It's just that sometimes people mishear things, and we naturally put our own spin on what we hear based on our own views. That's all.

[skinstzar]

So you're just going to get a version of history that is more in line with your thinking as is. All teachers conservative or liberal put some matter of spin on history - it is VERY hard to find a non-revisionist history being taught.

In a public school were a teacher is funded by tax payer dollars they have a responsibility to take their politics out of a History class. It is there job to display the content in as much of a factual perspective as possible and then challenge the children to form their own ideas on the matter. From the OP of this thread it clearly sounds like the teacher had created a lesson plan based on his agenda and that is fundamentally wrong and saddening. I agree with you that human nature is to put a revisionist perspective on anything but it doesn't make it right.

[rincewind]

In a public school were a teacher is funded by tax payer dollars they have a responsibility to take their politics out of a History class. It is there job to display the content in as much of a factual perspective as possible and then challenge the children to form their own ideas on the matter. From the OP of this thread it clearly sounds like the teacher had created a lesson plan based on his agenda and that is fundamentally wrong and saddening. I agree with you that human nature is to put a revisionist perspective on anything but it doesn't make it right.

Didn't say it was right. It is just about impossible to take your own view out of history, mainly because history is no where near as static as it should be - we all have our own interpetation of what happened and why.

I will say it sounds like this teacher is an extreme though. I would love to hear how upset the OP would have been if the teacher glossed over things like the internment camps though.

[skinstzar]

Agree and disagree. Many of those stereotypes could be seen in Charlie Chan films and with mainstream comedians like Jerry Lewis heading deep into the 1950's. I do agree that "the cartoons and humor" was often designed purposefully, but they were also a reflection or perhaps an exaggeration of what was already there.

That's why I think they're a snapshot. I don't think they tell the whole story, but you can use them as a puzzle piece. For example, those cartoons wouldn't fly as well today, even if we wanted to galvanize people against an enemy. In fact, we saw almost the opposite effort to try to make sure that we made a distinction between Muslims and terrorists.

There are many out there today that carry an anti muslim sentiment that rivals and may even surpass that was felt towards the Japanese. The difference is that we have evolved more as Americans and we have a better overall value system. That is a good thing.

[Roborob132]

All i am gonna say is this IS HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY. I applaud you for wanting to learn more but I am shocked that you get mad that some things were left out. HISTORY happens every day and you cannot possible think to hit every point while in high school. If you want to pursue this, College is the place where you can explore all facetts of history. You can choose which aspect of histroy you want, Modern, Ancient, Egyptian etc etc. High school gives you and overview so you can form an opinion on what you want to pursue in college. relax....

[chomerics]

You have to realize that alot of teachers today, not all, but most, especially in college are left overs from the 60's.

Are you saying MOST of the teachers that are over 60 years old??? Sorry, don't buy your premise one bit, just more rantings of a blinded partisan.

To be left over from the 60's you would at bare minimum have had to been born in the early 50's most likely 1948-1952 (this is the era you are talking about correct?) The people who were 18-22 during 1965-69? Well then math wiz, that would put the VAST MAJORITY or as you put it MOST professors over the age of 55. . . I don't know where you went to school, but in my college, there was one person maybe over 55 years old that was a professor. I never had a person over 55 in HS either. . .