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.”


Tempers Flare and Voices Are Raised as Trump and Senate Republican Go Toe-to-Toe in Closed Door Meeting
Christian Judge Who Refused to Perform Gay Weddings ‘Vindicated’ in Big Court Ruling
New York congressional primary becomes second most expensive House race ever amid AI fight
Unearthed video exposes vulnerable House Dem’s reversal on crucial issue impacting state
Dem Congressional Candidate Caught Bringing Sex Offender Who Victimized 8-Year-Old with Him to School Event
Mamdani-Backed Candidate Who Blamed 9/11 on American ‘Capitalism and Racism’ Wins Democratic Primary
Comer probes alleged Biden collusion with gun control activists in Glock lawsuit
‘He named names’: Trump’s Senate meeting explodes into shouting match over Iran
California sues Trump EPA over move to subject state vehicle emissions waivers to congressional review
‘Free Karmelo’ mob hunted woman in bloody attack as thugs shouted support for killer, victim says
Biden judge torches Trump ICE crackdown as ‘devoid of rational explanation,’ nukes courthouse arrest policy
Letitia James fumes as Mamdani-backed socialists sweep New York primaries
Trump Suddenly Cancels Housing Bill Signing with Minutes to Spare, Demands SAVE America Act on His Desk
US Mint to produce limited-edition July 4 quarters for America 250
Trump declares ‘national emergency,’ demands housing overhaul bill be scrapped in SAVE Act push

See also  Antifa leaders panic after DOJ pursues conspiracy charges against Minnesota operatives

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.”


Tempers Flare and Voices Are Raised as Trump and Senate Republican Go Toe-to-Toe in Closed Door Meeting
Christian Judge Who Refused to Perform Gay Weddings ‘Vindicated’ in Big Court Ruling
New York congressional primary becomes second most expensive House race ever amid AI fight
Unearthed video exposes vulnerable House Dem’s reversal on crucial issue impacting state
Dem Congressional Candidate Caught Bringing Sex Offender Who Victimized 8-Year-Old with Him to School Event
Mamdani-Backed Candidate Who Blamed 9/11 on American ‘Capitalism and Racism’ Wins Democratic Primary
Comer probes alleged Biden collusion with gun control activists in Glock lawsuit
‘He named names’: Trump’s Senate meeting explodes into shouting match over Iran
California sues Trump EPA over move to subject state vehicle emissions waivers to congressional review
‘Free Karmelo’ mob hunted woman in bloody attack as thugs shouted support for killer, victim says
Biden judge torches Trump ICE crackdown as ‘devoid of rational explanation,’ nukes courthouse arrest policy
Letitia James fumes as Mamdani-backed socialists sweep New York primaries
Trump Suddenly Cancels Housing Bill Signing with Minutes to Spare, Demands SAVE America Act on His Desk
US Mint to produce limited-edition July 4 quarters for America 250
Trump declares ‘national emergency,’ demands housing overhaul bill be scrapped in SAVE Act push

See also  PHOTOS: Best moments from Obama’s presidential center opening

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