Society for History Education

Why Students Think There Are Two Kinds of American History

Author(s): Tony Waters
Source: The History Teacher, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Nov., 2005), pp. 11-21
Published by: Society for History Education
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Why StudentsThinkThereAre Two Kinds

of AmericanHistory

Tony Waters
Chico
CaliforniaStateUniversity,

STUDENTS IN MY UNDERGRADUATESociology and Social Science classes often tell me that the "history"they learnedin high schools
was different than the "history"they learned in our university classes.
They often claim that what they learnedin K-12 was "wrong"and that
they did not learnthe "real"historyuntilthey got to college. They usually
focus on the fact that K-12 history is typically taught from a triumphal
"grandsweep"perspectiveemphasizingplaces and dates, and the glories
of the past in general. They contrastthis with a college curriculumthat
they say emphasizesthatthere were greatinjusticesin the past. Students
often feel as if they have to choose between one version, or the other.
Often my students'historypreferencesare based on theirpre-existing
political views aboutthe role of the statein orderingsociety. Those on the
right choose to believe in the "gloriouspast"version of K-12, and those
from the left focus on the "persistence of oppression" version often
emphasizedby college coursesin historyandeducationdepartments.The
"gloriouspast" version of history has in its cornerthe millions of K-12
textbooks distributedto schools aroundthe country.The persistence of
oppression school uses a different "clandestine"history of which the
most popularright now seems to be James Loewen's Lies My Teacher
ToldMe: EverythingYourAmericanHistory TextbookGot Wrong.This
TheHistory Teacher

Volume 39 Number 1

November 2005

C Society for History Education,Inc.

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12

Tony Waters

book is a systematic debunkingof K-12 American history texts and is

often readenthusiasticallyby studentsclaimingthatthey now understand
"real"Americanhistory.
I think though that the dichotomy between right and wrong history,
right or left political views, or real and fake history is all false. In fact,
there are two histories being taught, each of which is reasonable and
important in the reproductionof society. The K-12 version is about
affirming the logical basis for our being a people with a past and, by
implication,a present.This version is inherentlypatrioticandpositive. In
the case of the United States, this optimistic story explains why today's
values of democracy,capitalism, equal opportunity,and individualliberty are an importantbasis for a just society. This story is important
because Americans need to agree that there is a plausible and logical
explanationfor why today's institutionsarethe best possible. But in these
patrioticandoptimisticviews thereis a limitation.The problemis thatthe
optimism of the story told in K-12 is never consistent with what is
observed in the present.This is where the role of college history comes
in. College historyemphasizesnot only optimismandpatriotismbut also
ambiguity and conflict. Learningthis history is importantbecause it is
partof a broadercontingentstory,partof which will eventuallybe used to
explain to childrenof the futurea logical basis for their present.What a
good college level history course does is drawthe studentinto the wider
conversation about the problems of the past. It does this in order that
futurecitizens will have the intellectualtools to explain a presentthathas
yet to emerge.
The Problem of a Plausible Past
Thereis a problem,however, with maintaininga patrioticstoryfor our
children. The story needs to be plausible with respect to both what
significantadultsrememberof the past, what is happeningin the present,
and the dreams a society has for a future.These three things of course
never quite match,but they at least need to be consistentenoughto avoid
too much dissonance.When there is too much dissonance,the old story
becomes "wrong,"and a new "moreaccurate"story emerges, creatinga
new version which is still optimistic and patriotic.
Let me use a recent storyfrom the United States duringthe 1950s and
1960s. The Civil Rights Movement confronteda countrywhich claimed
to value democracy, equal opportunity,and individual liberty. But this
claim highlightedan obvious dissonance which was the disenfranchisement of African-Americanswho had fought for these values in World
War II. Historybooks of the 1950s reflected an older version of Ameri-

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Why StudentsThinkThere Are Two Kinds of AmericanHistory

13

can history which dealt poorly with questions of race, and focused on
previous concerns about the need to reconcile whites split by the fratricide of the Civil War. These histories told a triumphalstory of how
English colonists establishedthe MassachusettsBay and Virginia colonies, conducted a successful revolt and gained independence from an
English king who denied them basic political rights. They then fought a
terribleCivil War focused by a need to preservethe union, and incidentally abolish slavery. In order to make plausible the story that the war
"saved the union," memories of the intense hatredcreated by that war
needed to be downplayedandthe patriotismof whites fromthe south and
north celebrated. The story then continued by noting that the united
countrysuccessfully foughtWorldWarsI andII in defense of democracy
and liberty. This history took little note of millions of African-Americans, a situationwhich was difficult to reconcile with the participationof
black units in World War II. Nor could it explain the increasinglylarge
presence of segregatedAfrican-Americancommunities in northernand
southerncities where public facilities were separateand unequal.
In response, the story told of "we the Americans" changed in the
history textbooks. Our origins were tracedto peoples and places besides
England,including African slaves. Beginning in the 1970s, the role that
slavery and race played in the origins of the Civil War was re-emphasized, and it was no longer primarily a war to preserve the union.
FrederickDouglass was addedto the glorious story of the Civil War,and
RobertE. Lee's role declined in a countryno longerfocused on reconciliationof northernersandsoutherners,butin reconcilingblacks andwhites.
By the 1980s, the assassinated Martin Luther King was elevated to a
glorious role in the country's struggle for freedom. In short, the story
remaineda glorious andplausibleone, but over a periodof 30 to 40 years
even the heroes changed.
And guess what?In fifty years, how we teach historyat the K- 12 level
will change again.The storyof the Civil Wartold in the historytextbooks
of 2055 will not be the same as thattold in 2005, or 1955. The story told
in the K-12 textbooks of 2055 will reflect a new story, which will be
presentedto childrenas being the truthabout an honorablepast. Almost
inevitably,today's textbooks will be criticized for having omitted issues
which do not seem importanttoday. But again, this is where college
classes should come in. College classes are part of the contingent"running conversation"from which this futurevision of the past will emerge.
In contrast,K-12 is aboutthe consensus reachedin that conversation,at
least at the point in time when state boards of education approved
textbooks for distribution.The approvedtextbooks will always present
an optimistic and patrioticexpression of the political context the boards

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14

Tony Waters

of educationreflect. That which is still contestedwill not be legitimated

politically, and will be left out of the K-12 canon known as "the content
standards."
This bringsme back to the issue of what historiansin our universities
do, and why what they teach is so often differentfrom what is taughtin
K-12. Universitiesproducethe contingenthistoryof tomorrow.The grab
bag that their classes dip into will become the stories and analyses that
will explain events in an unknowablefuture. But only a very few will
actuallybe used in futureK- 12 books. Forexample,the reasonwhy Islam
is a new emphasis of the American social studies curriculum,and not
Shintoism or Hinduism, has to do with broaderpolitical and military
issues which emergedafterSeptember11,2001. Therewill probablybe a
strongeremphasison Islam in futureK-12 textbooksbecause the storyof
Islam is importantin 2005 for explaining to our children the present
actions of the United States,while the storiesof ShintoismandHinduism
are not. The emphasis on Islam has everything to do with the story
Americais tryingto tell itself, andlittle to do with the relativeimportance
of Islam, Hinduism,or Shintoismas world religions.
Max Weber on Ethnic Groups:
How Nations Think about Their History
The sociologist Max Weber discussed how groups use history to
define themselves as having a common identityin ethnicity, nationality,
or citizenship. Weber wrote that such status groups are made up of
"communities"of people who sharethe common "honor"of a particular
identity. In the case of ethnic and national groups, this honor comes
througha plausible belief in common ancestry.Note that this common
form of "honor"needs to be one of "belief"'not actualverifiablegenetic
fact. So long as there is a belief in common origin, and it is credible and
creditable,it is enough for the groupto verify who belongs andwho does
not. It has to be credible in the sense thathabits,looks, dress, food, likes,
etc., are consistent with common practice.It has to be creditable in the
sense that the group needs to have an explanationof why their unique
sense of dignity is important,irrespectiveof objective conditions.This is
K-12 historyat its best: credible,creditable,andexpressingthe dignity of
nationalismand patriotism.K-12 historyultimatelyis the definitionof a
nation or ethnic group both to itself and to the world about why it is
unique.
All groups, whether of low or high status, believe themselves to be
creditable, and tell stories about why their own group is better than
others. However, there is a problem of how to go about doing this

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Why StudentsThinkThere Are Two Kinds of AmericanHistory

15

credibly. Statusgroups,when comparedto others,are eitherpositively or

negatively privileged. The story they tell about themselves--their history--must credibly explain why things are the way they are. Positively
privileged groups need to explain to others why their privileges are
naturaland normal. Negatively privileged groups need to explain how
privileges are denied them, despite their own basic goodness. In other
words, ethnic groups need to explain to themselves and others why their
status is creditable, in a credible fashion.
Weber writes that positively privileged status groups focus on their
own general "excellence."Their kingdom is "of this world." Positively
privileged groups control the government which in the modem world
also controlsthe school curriculum.They live for the presentand need to
identifya greatpast thatlogically leads up to thatpresent.Weberexplains
that part of the privileged status is a fear of "decay from inside" by a
presentgeneration.They believe thatthey themselves, and especially the
young, are incapableof living up to the moral standardsestablished by
"the greatestgeneration,"or subversionby groupsjealous of theirprivileges. Quite often dominantgroupsdescribehow theireducationor skills
have made them inappropriatefor lower status tasks, that is the "dirty
work"of society which is reservedfor the subordinategroups.
Nevertheless, subordinategroups also have a sense of excellence and
dignity. For them, there is a glorious future lying beyond the present,
whether it is of this life, or a later life. There is often in such groups a
belief thatthey have a providentialmission from God, and thata messiah
figure will appear to shine a light on their hidden excellence. It is
generally believed that this light will naturallylead to the overthrowof
their undeservingoppressors.When this happens, their true honor will
become obvious to a world which has previouslydefinedthem as pariahs.
Put bluntly, positively privileged groups have nostalgia for the past,
and are likely to "celebrate"it through telling and retelling of their
history.Subordinatedgroupsdreamof futuredeliverance,and speaklittle
of a discreditablepast. During the Civil War, the nostalgia for the past
was expressed in songs like "Dixie" which glorified the past that dominant Southernplanters sought to preserve. At the same time, subordinated slaves expressed themselves through songs of deliverance, like
"Swing Low Sweet Chariot"and even the "BattleHymn of the Republic," which expressed a belief in a futuresalvation.

Credibility,Creditability,
and Thoroughbred
AnthropologicalTypes
Whether a status group is positively or negatively privileged in a
particularsociety, they also generatewhat Weber calls a "thoroughbred

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16

Tony Waters

anthropologicaltype."These are the stereotypesthatethnic and national

groups use to define themselves, as well as the others with whom they
have contact.These definitions include beliefs about characteristicfood
preferences,dress, music, and professions. These likes and dislikes are
asserted through song, ritual, stories, and history texts. For modem
dominantgroups, such self-definition may become encoded in law, and
the story expressedthroughK-12 texts.
The anthropologicalthoroughbredsdevelopedby dominantandsubordinate groups are patterned.The dominant group sees itself as being
smart,benevolent, and unable to do unskilled labor, while subordinate
groups are lazy, and fit only for menial tasks. The dominant group
generally believes that the subordinatepeople are satisfied in their position. This view is often expressedin the United Statestoday in dominant
views about immigrantsfrom poor ThirdWorld countries.It is believed
that immigrantswill take low-statusjobs in farm-work/gardening/restaurants, and that they are still happy to be here because life in the home
countrywas so miserable.Complementingsuch folk anthropologyis the
belief thatthe nativebornare incapableof workingin farm-work/gardening/restaurantsbecause the pay is too low, and the youth too decadentto
work as hardas required.
But the anthropologicalthoroughbreds
developedby subordinategroups
also fit a pattern.The storiesthey tell tendto describethemselves as being
clever and indispensable,while the dominantgroup is rich, cruel, and
easily fooled. The Br'er Rabbitstories developed by African-Americans
duringthe days of slavery are a good example of such stories. Subordinate groupsalso often believe thatwere it not for the skills andinsightsof
themselves, the system of the dominantgroupwould collapse. Slaves in
the AmericanSouthtypically all sharedthis view, irrespectiveof the fact
thattheirstatusin the largersociety was low. Today, buildingcustodians,
and farm workers will assert that the larger market system they serve
would collapse without them. Note that this view is both credible and
creditable.It is throughsuch stereotypes,if you will, that the conversation abouthow a groupdefines its own characteristicsandthose of others
is sustained.
Most importantfor this essay, dominantgroups have the furtheradvantagethata formalhistory,such as thatintroducedin K-12, establishes
stereotypesas historicalfact. But the runningconversationsof the subordinate groupsare also important.For it is out of this unofficial "clandestine"conversationthatthe rationalizationsneededto explainfutureshifts
in power, prestigeand honor will emerge.

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Why StudentsThinkThere Are Two Kinds of AmericanHistory

17

History, Mass Modern Society, and Textbooks

Textbooks are an importantmeans by which mass modem societies
affirmandrecreatean explanationof where a nationis today. Millions of
glossy paged copies are producedto teach K-12 studentsthe dominant
explanation of why society is the way it is. Meanwhile, the stories of
subordinategroups tend to be passed along clandestinely through allegorical myths,music, gossip, andart.New ideas emergingout of subordinated media are often unnoticed by the dominant culture. Music is a
powerful means for passing along clandestinevalues in modem society.
Powerfulclandestineforces emergingduringthe last 40 years or so were
first expressed in rap, soul, and folk music. Much of the now-dominant
conservative movement had its origins in allegorical myths about welfare, capitalism, affirmativeaction, race, abortion,taxation policy, and
governmentbureaucracy.These stories were told clandestinelyin littlenoticed publications,business schools, and radio stations which gained
currencyin the 1960s and 1970s.
College classrooms,where individualprofessorshave broadpower to
assign books, area place whereclandestineideas areexpressedandtested
for their plausibility. For what it is worth, the clandestine ideas of the
righttend to be expressedin business and economics departments.Clandestine ideas of the left are often found in history and educationDepartments. The advantageof the college classroom is that these ideas can be
shapedandinterpretedin ways thatmake sense in the context of different
plausible futures.
The Problem of Historical Change:
Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving
No dominant group started out being in charge. What is more, no
dominantgroupwill remaindominantforever.And if you look carefully,
you can see the fingerprintsof subordinationin the histories that dominant groupstell aboutthemselves. This is because every dominantgroup
must at some time outwit someone else, permittingthe groupto achieve
its rightful place in the sun. In other words, there must be a foil in the
story, a messiah figure, and a theme of triumphagainst odds. This story
is rooted in a past which is plausible, creditable, and credible to a
dominantgroup.A good way to do this, is to legitimatean event which is
beyond the lived memories of people within the society. This is why
dominantgroupstell stories of a distant,ratherthanrecentpast. Perhaps
it is even why so many K-12 history classes never seem to reach the end
of the book where the recent past is discussed. Glorious stories of a
hundredyears ago are less likely to be challengedby the memoriesof the
living.

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18

Tony Waters

A good way to illustrate this is by looking at how the American

Thanksgivingwent frombeing a one-off minorcelebrationby fewer than
fifty Englishreligioushereticsdependenton Indianlargesse,to a description of a glorious past for a nation of two hundredninety-fourmillion
people. The Thanksgivingstory, as is told in our K-12 historytextbooks,
is the story of a small band of churchdissenters--Pilgrims-upset with
the theological practices of the Churchof England. They first went to
Holland, and later to Massachusetts.They settled at Plymouth in the
forests of Massachusettsnear Cape Cod in 1620. After democratically
deciding to govern themselves with writtenlaws (The Mayflower Compact) these rationalmodem humanbeings establishedthemselves on the
shores of MassachusettsBay. Their first winter in New England was
devastating,andmany of the Pilgrimsperished.A messiah figureeventually appearedin the personof Squanto,an Indianwho spoke English and
introducedthem to the Indians of the area. The Puritansworked with
these Indiansto establish farms which the following season providedan
abundantharvest.After the harvestwas in, the Pilgrimsinvited theirnew
Indianfriendsto a feast of uniquelyAmericanfood like turkey,venison,
and maize. And the story often concludes that today's uniquelypositive
Americanvalues like the rule of law, freedomof religion, culturaldiversity, farming,and hardwork are logically celebratedby acknowledging
the role Pilgrims and Indiansplayed in developing the new society.
The problemthatthe grouchycriticalhistoriansat the universitiesare
likely to point to is that it didn't quite happen that way. To start with,
Spaniards,French, and even English had long precededthe Pilgrims in
America. Indeed, if there was a "firstfood" it was cod liver oil from the
fishermanwho boiled the massive codfish caught along Cape Cod. And
as for friendship and tolerance, the Pilgrims were the antecedentsfor
seventy years of Puritantheological despotismwhich includedthe persecution of Quakers,the military annihilationof Squanto's heirs in King
Philip's War, and culminatedin the Salem Witch Trialsin 1691. Indeed,
it was only an autocraticact by that great social liberal, the King of
England,thatfinally revokedthe democraticPuritanCharter,replacingit
with a staid Royal Charterwhich finally protectedreligious libertyfrom
the excesses of the Pilgrims' successors.
Nevertheless, despite these uncomfortabletruths,we continue to use
the Pilgrimsas exemplarsof virtuein our textbooks.Virtuallyall Americans celebrateThanksgivingandhonorboththe Pilgrimsandthe Indians.
As I will conclude below, this is probablya good idea. Given the nature
of Americansociety today, includingthe importanceof religion, cultural
diversityandthe rule of law, the Pilgrimstorycontinuesto resonatewell.
But, I suspect thatit is no coincidence thatthe second Thanksgivingwas

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Why StudentsThinkThereAre Two Kinds of AmericanHistory

19

not held until about 1820, long after the excesses of the Puritanshad
faded from immediate memory. There was also of course a need, as
Weber pointed out, for the new countryto define itself as unique from
othersin termsof food likes, dress, and social customs.Thanksgivinghas
provedto be an excellent ritualto assertthis "Americanexceptionalism."
And so, hundredsof millions areexposed to Thanksgivingthroughthe
shared experience of donning Indian or Puritan costumes as second
graders,eating Americanturkeyat Thanksgivingdinner,and, of course,
reading about the story in millions of American history textbooks. By
performingthese rituals,andinsisting thatour second gradersdressup as
Pilgrimsor Indians(even those living in PolynesianHawaii), we make an
importantstatementabout what values are importantto us as a nation
today, not just in the past.

Choosinga PlausiblePast, Present,and Future

So what happenedto the nasty side of the Massachusetts'Puritans?
Aren't we their heirs, too? In a positivistic sense we are; and in the
college historycurriculumit is generallytaughtthatevents like the Salem
witch trials are a naturaloutgrowthof religious extremism. Indeed the
reason we talk about the Salem witch trials today is that intellectualsof
the 1950s effectively resuscitated these events to make a clandestine
point aboutwitch trialsbeing importantas literarymetaphor,thatis, trials
withoutheroes or honor. No one in the story of the Salem witch trials is
creditable given contemporaryvalues. The powerful prosecutors who
condemned the witches to death are not people to be emulated. The
judges who relaxedrules of evidence to permitreadyconvictions are not
creditable. And none of the victims left clandestine diaries, notes, or
stories which would provide a credible example of how good could
overcome evil. I There are no heroes, so there is no creditablehistory.
The Salem witch trials may be instructivefor would-be prosecutorsand
judges to study in law schools, but they are of dubious value for K-12
books seeking to create an optimistic patriotism.
And this is why Loewen's book Lies my Teacher Told Me will never
become part of a state boardof education's content standardsfor K-12.
Loewen's book points out that there is much to be discredited about
Americanhistory.Heroes were in fact clods, andracism,not only pursuit
of freedom and liberty,is a dominanttheme in Americanhistory.Which
is of course the reasonthatit cannotbe used as a textbookin K- 12, where
the dominant society needs to convince its children that an American
identity is honorable, and that the dominance of the state is a natural
consequence of a glorious past.

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20

Tony Waters

Lies My Teacher Had Better Teach Me

This brings me full circle to answeringthe original question that my
studentsfirst asked about the two types of history, that taughtin K-12,
and that learnedin the university.The history we tell in K-12 is always
tied to a need to justify the present.Implicitly, and most importantly,the
storyis aboutwhat"we"as a groupbelieve ourfutureshouldbe. Through
what is chosen to include in the history taught to our children, the
governmentis helping childrento discuss more thanthe problemsof the
past. Children are taught about how the problems of the present are
discussed, and what future should be hoped for. In a modern society
where the dominantgroupis inherentlyin chargeof the state, this means
that textbookswill always tell a creditablestory which glorifies the past,
andjustifies the present.Therewill always be an assumptionthattoday's
youth do not quitemeasureup to theirhonoredpredecessors.This is what
my studentscalled the "wrong"history when they got to my class. But
ratherthan being right or wrong, it is what modern states need to do to
persist. History taught to the masses is always glorious, and always
justifies the present.
But, while a glorious past may be importantfor the present, it is
inadequatefor a futurewhere the unforeseenwill need to be explained.
Interpretationsof futureevents will be contested, as power shifts occur,
and new problems are dealt with. In the 1960s the United States was
fortunatethat a generationof historiansprepareda "clandestinehistory"
about FredrickDouglass and others who have become recognized since
as contributingcreditablyand credibly to a presentfocused on a need to
reconcile racialdifferences.Otherclandestinehistoriesare being written
today, most of which will never be heard of beyond a limited group of
specialized scholars, or perhapsby undergraduatesin a sociology, anthropology, or history class. But, necessarily a few will address the
unforeseencircumstancesof the future,andbe used by someone to assert
a claim of legitimacy for the people we will become. This will become
the future's K-12 history at its best: credible, creditable,and expressing
the dignity of nationalismand patriotism.

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Why StudentsThink There Are Two Kinds of AmericanHistory

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Sources and FurtherReading

Anderson, Benedict Imagined Communities:Reflections of the Spread on Nationalism,
2"dedition. New York:Verso Press.
Barth,Fredrik,edior(1969). "Introduction"to Ethnic Groupsand Boundaries: The Origins of CulturalDifference. Boston: Little Brown.
Blumer, Herbert(1958). "Race Prejudiceas a Sense of Group Position."Pacific Sociological Review. v. 1: 3-8.
Loewen, James (1996). Lies My Teacher Told Me : EverythingYourAmericanHistory
TextbookGot Wrong
Waters,Tony and Kim LeBlanc (2005). "Refugees and Education:Mass Public Schooling withouta Nation-State.ComparativeEducationReview 49(2): 129-147.
Weber,Max (1948) "Class, Status,Party,"pp. 180-194 in From Max Weber.New York:
Free Press.

Notes
1.
Which is not of course to say that there could not have been any; after all
without the voice providedby Anne Frank'sdiaries, her capture,deportationand death
would have had as little to say to us as the victims of the Salem Witch Trials, as without
the diary she would have been as anonymousas the victims of Salem.

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