[Reader-list] Understanding history, not hating history class

[Ujwala Samarth]

 Textbook Colonialism

— By Kristina Rizga <http://motherjones.com/authors/kristina-rizga>
| Thu Feb. 24, 2011 10:00 AM PST
Photo: Kristina Rizga

Mission High School<http://motherjones.com/riff/2011/01/closing-achievement-gap-one-time>
 teacher Jenn Bowman<http://motherjones.com/riff/2011/01/mission-high-bowman-class-dynamics>
has
been trying to educate 10th graders about the Scramble for
Africa<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa>
 using Belgian King Leopold
II<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost>'s
brutal colonization of the
Congo<http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/congo-gold-adam-hochschild>as
a case study. Too bad the "Modern
World History<http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/wh_modern05/page_build.htm?id=resources/jsp/chapter_links/chapter_links_ch11#item>"
textbook isn't helping. How can the textbook's "Imperialism" section end
with a nearly equal number of both positive and negative consequences of
terrible events? "At its core, Imperialism is an act of aggression. Finding
positive impact in it is like looking for positive outcomes in a rampage of
a serial killer," she says.
"If you were writing a letter to our textbook publisher, how would you
review their treatment of Colonialism?" Ms. Bowman asks.

That's why she got up at 5 a.m. that morning to write a letter to the
textbook publisher <http://www.classzone.com/cz/index.htm>, Bowman tells her
students. She reads her letter aloud, and then uses it to discuss the
meaning of "Eurocentric Worldview," a new term for this class. She discusses
writing too, asking students to critique the letter's thesis, evidence, and
conclusions. "If you were writing a letter to our textbook publisher, how
would you review their treatment of Colonialism?" she asks. "How would you
organize your arguments? How many sentences do you need in the first
paragraph?"

"Ms. Bowman, were you writing political letters in your punk-rock days too
or just going to a bar and yelling at people?"
Pedro<http://motherjones.com/riff/2011/01/mission-high-pedro-scars>asks
at one point. "Both," she laughs.

"Ms. Bowman is so political!"
Rina<http://motherjones.com/media/2011/01/mission-high-natalie-heart>
complains
to me softly as she hunches over her desk. Suddenly she sits up straight and
asks, "Ms. Bowman, in those protests in
Egypt<http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/whats-happening-egypt-explained>,
were high school students on the streets too?" "Absolutely!" Bowman answers.
"I wonder what they're doing in Egypt right now," a student at the front of
the classroom asks. "I wonder," Bowman says, as she walks toward a student
in the back.

*Editors' Note: This education dispatch is part of an ongoing
series<http://motherjones.com/mission-high>reported from Mission
High School <https://mhs-sfusd-ca.schoolloop.com/>, where education
writer Kristina
Rizga <http://motherjones.com/authors/kristina-rizga> is embedded for the
year. Read more: Mission High School students talk about education reform
and grade the film "Waiting for
Superman.<http://motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/02/waiting-superman-mission-high-part-2>
 Plus: Sign up for the weekly newsletter "In the
Mix"<http://motherjones.com/about/interact-engage/free-email-newsletter>
to
get all of the latest Mission High dispatches.*


-- 
Ujwala Samarth
(Programme Coordinator, Open Space)

www.openspaceindia.org
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