News Opinons Politics

Teachers Strive to Ensure Students ‘Unlearn’ Thanksgiving ‘Myth’

Teachers across America are striving to have their students “unlearn” what progressive activists say is nothing more than a “feel-good” Thanksgiving “myth.”

“Thanksgiving became a national holiday during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, and the myth of familial relations between colonial settlers and Native Americans has persisted in American culture ever since,” says Education Week:

The education media outlet interviewed Jacob Tsotigh, tribal education specialist for the National Indian Education Association, who said, “There’s less and less” of K-12 teachers having students participate in the narrative of the early American settlers sharing a meal with Native Americans.


Tsotigh said more Americans are being “made aware of that version being a myth, and our realization that there is a really different perspective that needs to be considered.”


Reporter’s Notebook: GOP’s ‘favorite bill’ faces reality check as Senate stalls on SAVE America Act
Florida AG Warns NFL Against Race-Based Diversity Hiring
Newsom Claims TPUSA Influencer Is Gay — Just One Month After He Followed Apparent Gay Hooker With Username ‘F***s4Drugs’
24 states back challenge to transgender inmate surgery ruling with nationwide stakes
TSA warns of ‘longstanding’ shutdown fallout even after funding clears, and a major event could make it worse
Key Trump agency unleashes probe on blue state over potential race-based mortgage aid: ‘DEI is dead’
John Fetterman’s unapologetic maverick mantra: ‘My vote is not for sale’
Missing woman’s sister says Nancy Guthrie case now a ‘hope roller coaster’ for family as search continues
Illegal immigrant accused of groping girls at Virginia high school facing new charges
New Jersey Gov Sherrill signs law barring ICE agents from wearing face coverings to shield identities
Trump admin makes new criminal referrals to DOJ targeting New York AG Letitia James
Gorman family calls out Johnson and Pritzker following college student’s killing in Chicago
DOJ settles with Michael Flynn over Russia probe after wrongful prosecution claim: ‘Historic injustice’
Cop on trial denies gunning for fellow officer in clash at home; prosecutors argue lethal risk was real
US moves airborne troops, Marines as Iran rejects ceasefire, raising ground war potential

See also  Atlanta airport asks travelers to arrive four hours early as ICE comes to help

He added that more public school teachers are reaching out to tribal communities to “connect to authentic teaching sources.”

Education Week continued:

To help students appreciate colonial oppression of Natives and the violence that ensued from it, Tsotigh recommends reframing the holiday as an opportunity to honor representatives of Native communities who greeted European visitors with open arms.

“They didn’t perceive them as invaders at the time because their numbers were so small,” Tsotigh said. “They felt from the mindset of Native people that we share with those less fortunate. That was part of how that myth evolved.”

For “related video,” Education Week linked to a 2018 PBS NewsHour report titled “Teaching the Real Lessons of Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving is often seen as a quintessential feel-good holiday, but many argue the way it’s taught in schools perpetuates myths as well as being disrespectful to Native Americans,” PBS host Judy Woodruff states, adding these individuals claim the traditional Thanksgiving story “leaves out the context of relations between them and the early immigrants, how the settlers brought diseases, for example, that decimated native tribes or information about the massacres of natives that followed.”


Reporter’s Notebook: GOP’s ‘favorite bill’ faces reality check as Senate stalls on SAVE America Act
Florida AG Warns NFL Against Race-Based Diversity Hiring
Newsom Claims TPUSA Influencer Is Gay — Just One Month After He Followed Apparent Gay Hooker With Username ‘F***s4Drugs’
24 states back challenge to transgender inmate surgery ruling with nationwide stakes
TSA warns of ‘longstanding’ shutdown fallout even after funding clears, and a major event could make it worse
Key Trump agency unleashes probe on blue state over potential race-based mortgage aid: ‘DEI is dead’
John Fetterman’s unapologetic maverick mantra: ‘My vote is not for sale’
Missing woman’s sister says Nancy Guthrie case now a ‘hope roller coaster’ for family as search continues
Illegal immigrant accused of groping girls at Virginia high school facing new charges
New Jersey Gov Sherrill signs law barring ICE agents from wearing face coverings to shield identities
Trump admin makes new criminal referrals to DOJ targeting New York AG Letitia James
Gorman family calls out Johnson and Pritzker following college student’s killing in Chicago
DOJ settles with Michael Flynn over Russia probe after wrongful prosecution claim: ‘Historic injustice’
Cop on trial denies gunning for fellow officer in clash at home; prosecutors argue lethal risk was real
US moves airborne troops, Marines as Iran rejects ceasefire, raising ground war potential

See also  Duffy predicts ‘worse’ wait times will increase shutdown pressure on Democrats

In keeping with the “unlearning” process, Education Week offers its project titled Citizen Z: Teaching Civics in a Divided Nation, which, it says, “has been exploring the evolving cultural understanding of Thanksgiving through the lens of the K-12 classroom.”

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter