Don't Feel Qualified to Teach History?

Some homeschooling mothers don't feel qualified to teach various subjects, and some use this as an excuse to send their kids to public school. So let's look at this as it relates to history. Are the public school teachers better qualified?

Well, the short answer is, not likely. They may be licensed to teach history, but are not required to take classes in the topics they teach. For instance a 7th grade US history teacher may fulfill licensing requirements by taking social studies classes, or women and minority in history classes, but do not need to actually take any US history courses. But surely these teachers who teach US history study it on their own. Maybe some, maybe not. For instance when bogus US history material made its way into the public school curriculum stating, that Muslims came to America in 889 and then intermarried with natives, none of the 1200 teachers in 155 cities questioned it. Or when teachers went to a Muslim education conference lesson plans were quickly created with multiple errors, such as the Koran includes the Old and New Testament. Of course when these poor student are tested on the material they would flunk if they did answer "correctly."

Textbook writers have an agenda. They can present facts or even falsified statements in such a sequence that lead children to believe whatever they have set them up to believe. Students in government controlled schools no longer take logic and so they do not even have the tools to question these arguments or understand the fallacies presented. The textbooks are full or errors, this is not news to most people. But why? Well the textbooks are a jumble of political correctness and special interest group agendas-they are not books about what actually happened in our history. Of the 533 errors found by the Texas texbook reviewers 351 were admitted to be errors and the other 30% were "misunderstood." The misunderstood facts were not fixed. So tell me if a text is misunderstood by an adult how is your 8 year old going to come to the correct meaning. Do we care? Perhaps it is just okay with most people that their children are going to grow up with a completely inacurrate understanding of what happened in our past. They will go on to form their opinions and cast their votes based on what they have been taught. If the premise is wrong and you build upon it then the conclusion will ultimately be wrong, children do not understand this, but their parents should.

So what do I suggest? Teach your own children history yourself. Preview materials, use primary sources and stay far away from any texts approved by the government schools. You are just as qualified to teach history as someone who has a license and probably more so, because you care about your children and you are not limited in what you can use to teach.

For more information see http://www.washtimes.com/specialreport/20040328-125027-5592r.htm and http://www.educationnews.org/Commentaries/
What_Happens_When_History_Teachers_No_Longer_
Understand_the_Founding.htm