Archaeology and Education – Use and Misuse of Textbooks

H. G. Wells famously said, “Men and women tried to recall the narrow history teaching of their brief schooldays and found an uninspiring and partially forgotten list of national kings or presidents.”  Can you relate to that?  Was history “uninspiring” when you were in school?  Did your eyes cross by the endless dates and lists?  How much can you remember now that those days are behind you?  Most likely, what you know (or remember that you know) has been learned on your own since school and (if your education was anything like mine) what you were taught has mostly been forgotten.  This post will look at the traditional way that history has been taught and propose a better use for textbook education.

Textbook teaching is still largely the style used in the United States educational system, although it has been nearly abandoned here in the United Kingdom (according to my professor).  This is particularly true for history.  The main problem with textbook education of history is that the periods under study are presented in a way that conveys to the student the idea that what they are reading is “fact”.  The student never sees the evidence upon which these “facts” were based, has no idea what was filtered out, is not informed of the bias of the authors, and never is given the opportunity to weigh the evidence for themselves – which is, in fact, the main purpose for learning history and a crucial life-skill.

A textbook from 1819, presents a much different view of history than one written in 2010, yet both are educating around the same events (with an entire spectrum of views are found in the years in between).  This just confirms that bias is written into the formation of textbooks since history (presumably) has not changed, just the presentation of it.  In 1819, it was felt that the “bad” parts of history (ie rape, violence, or anything else that might “offend” or didn’t paint the home country in the best light) should not be recorded as history and were left out.  These sorts of judgments have always been made (even if there has been a movement away from this extreme).  Who is the audience?  What is the political goal of the governing body of the textbook?  What events are “important” and “need” to be included?  These are all questions that are asked when textbooks are written.

What makes matters worse is that information is “dumbed-down” and over-generalized leaving the student with a nugget that is actually false.  In an 1886-example, the following statement appears, “When the Romans quitted Britain, the poor helpless inhabitants were left without leaders, or magistrates, like so many wild animals, without reason and without laws.”  There are many problems with this statement, among which is the simple fact that the Romans didn’t leave all at once so the picture that is painted (one of Roman superiority and the blessings they bestowed by their presence on the “poor helpless inhabitants” of Britain) is entirely founded upon a falsehood (and this says nothing about the condescending tone of the statement).

In 1964, a textbook for Reading appeared with entirely made-up stories all based in history but with (then) modern ideals.  A cave-family finds a little girl being told to clean the smell off of an animal skin with a sharp stone and then to beat the skin with a stick in order to make herself “a pretty skirt”.  The problem is that none of this is true.  Sharp stones do not clean smell from animal skins and beating the skin with a stick does absolutely nothing.  And none of this addresses the reason a “cave-girl” would want a “pretty skirt” anyway.  Unfortunately, this sort of treatment of historical periods is common.

Another horrific commonality in textbooks are the ridiculous end of chapter assignments.  One such assignment from a 1954-textbook asks students to, “Write down in a sentence the names of three barbarian peoples who attacked the Roman Empire,” and “Make drawings to show two things the barbarians destroyed in the Empire.”  Both of these assignments are totally useless.  What is the point of education?  Is it to just learn so-called “facts” which may or may not actually be true?  The pupils are not being asked to question the evidence or have any critical thinking whatsoever.  The last assignment might be good in an art class but what does it have to do with history?  And as for naming three “barbarian” peoples, what difference does that make?  What possible life-skill does this assignment address?

History should not be about “facts” but about “opinions about evidence”.  The good news is that there is an effort to re-write history textbooks using archaeology to present facts that students are then asked to evaluate.

When looking for a textbook for your history class, see if the illustrations show at one time both a photo of the actual archaeological (historic) site and a reconstructed illustration/painting of what that site “might” have looked like at one point during its use.  Buildings should be deconstructed using cut-aways and top plans.  They should show how things work and ask the students to evaluate this.  Students should see letters, documents, etc and be asked to solve a mystery.  They should read “first-hand accounts that have been found in the archaeological record.  Questions in assignments should ask students to empathize with life at such and such a period.  But above all they should seek to get the child to think and ask questions even at the earliest of ages with the realization that history is a more fluid thought rather than a concrete one.