History not to be taught in our schools

[Butch Hannan]

They should ban the teaching of history in our schools. Healing will never take place while past wrong doings are the subject matter taught in schools. My grandson has to constantly hear how the white people were very bad. His young black friends look at him at as a monster when they were both born in the New South Africa. It should rather be replaced by "Ethics and Morality"

[tec0]

Once before I have stated that there are 3 things that the human race has to abandon if they wish to be free and allow for positive growth. History, Religion and Greed. History wants to act as constant reminder that we where once primitive and it reminds us of all the past wars and mistakes and act as a curse and brands us, and damn our children.

Religion suppresses growth and self worth to the point where ministers and priests demands our wealth for their own selfish needs. They suppress the feminine and even in our world today little has changed not to mention the scandals that surround there practices. They appointed themselves as superior and keep scriptures from the public eye, and hide them in punkers surrounded by guns and guards. They deny us truths and knowledge and deny humans their dignity.

Lastly is Greed! For humanity can see past the use of money and the greater good of sharing wealth so that all my live and work as equal. Every day millions is denied access to medical equipment and basic live saving operations. Not to mention the simple basics like food and water. We value paper more than human life. Our arts reflect it in pictures, photos and movies.

Without these 3 systems we will be able to evolve. Right now the world is flawed only because we as human kind willed it to be flawed.

[Butch Hannan]

When I started this thread I merely said that history should not be taught in our schools. It leads to dangerous brain washing of young people and perpetuates hatred. Our history is our history and we are stuck with it whether it be good or bad.
To ban religion as history would show will never work. I have only good memories of the various ministers that I have been involved with and they certainly did not enrich themselves at my expense. My giving to the church has always been of my own free will and as the Holy Spirit has convicted me to do.

[adrianh]

There is no such thing as unbiased history. Everybody sees the past to suit their needs. Some say the pyramids were tombs, some say they were machines generating energy. Some say the bible is the only truth while other say that the Romans concocted the stories to control society. Some say 9/11 was comitted by terrorists and some say that the FBI did it...etc.

The problem is that whatever we believe was recorded by some person, concocted by some person or rewritten by some person. Just as CNN reports whatever suits their pockets, so do journalists.

I once heard a wonderful saying "You can change the future, but you can't change the past"

To get back to history being taught at schools - When I was at school many many years ago I learned about Jan Van Riebeek, Wolraad Wotemaade and how the voortrekkers trekked up north and whacked the blacks. I learned that "Die groot swart gevaar" is going to come from Angola to kill the whites. I was taught that black people should sit in 3rd class in the back carriage of the train. I was taught that the black should work in the garden and not sit at the supper table. BTW: Black people were not allowed in the NG church, our gardener and maid were the only people that attened my fathers funeral.

So you tell me: what is the difference between the rubbish that is being taught now and the rubbish that was taught then?

[Butch Hannan]

Teaching history tends to perpetuate the agendas hidden or otherwise of the people in power. A lot of the things that you mention were actually legislated which makes it worse. They were not in the history books. Let us not forget that the Voortrekkers were actually running from a very oppressive British colonial rule. They were forced to study in English at the schools.

[tec0]

Well let us not forget that religion can also be an evil thing. And here is a bit of a history lesson:

1985 -- In one of the first major abuse cases to become public, Louisiana priest Gilbert Gauthe pleads guilty to 11 counts of molesting boys. He serves 10 years in prison.

1992 -- Massachusetts priest James Porter is charged with sexually abusing more than two dozen boys and girls. Porter, who pleads guilty and is sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison, is the first case in what becomes a major scandal in the Boston diocese.

1992 – At a meeting in South Bend, Ind., the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledges that some bishops have attempted to cover up abuse.

1996 -- Milwaukee's archbishop writes to Cardinal Ratzinger calling for canonical trials for two priests in his diocese who are accused of sexual abuse, including Murphy. He receives no response. Over the next two years, Wisconsin bishops will press for Murphy's dismissal but receive no encouragement from the Vatican.

1997 -- Maciel is charged with sexually abusing seminarians and boys in his care. Ratzinger orders the investigation closed.

1999 -- A Massachusetts court brings child rape charges against former priest John Geoghan. Throughout his career, Geoghan had been repeatedly accused of sexually molesting boys but was transferred from parish to parish until 1998, when he was finally defrocked.

2002 -- The Vatican issues guidelines for dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse by priests. It calls for all cases to be reported to Rome but makes no mention of reporting the charges to local criminal authorities.

2002 -- Geoghan is sentenced to up to 10 years in state prison. Boston Cardinal Bernard Law apologizes to Geoghan's victims, and the archdiocese pays $10 million to settle lawsuits brought by victims and their families.

Law and his top aides are accused of covering up allegations against pedophile priests. In December, on the day that he is scheduled to testify before a grand jury, Law goes to Rome, where he remains. A week later, he resigns as archbishop of Boston.

The following year, Geoghan dies in prison, murdered by a fellow inmate.

2004 -- A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops details allegations of child sexual abuse against Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002.

The report, by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, finds that more than 10,000 people have made such allegations during the period. Catholic dioceses are able to substantiate accusations against more than 4,000 priests in the U.S., about 4 percent of all priests who served during that time.

2004 -- The Portland, Ore., archdiocese files for bankruptcy, saying it has been drained by tens of millions of dollars in settlements paid to victims of sexual abuse by priests. Other dioceses follow suit, including those in Tucson, Ariz., Spokane, Wash., and Davenport, Iowa.

2005 -- Ratzinger is elected pope.

2006 -- A reopened Vatican investigation finds Maciel guilty of multiple acts of sexual abuse of minors. He is not defrocked but is ordered by Pope Benedict to stop his public ministry and adopt a "life of prayer and penitence."

2007 -- The San Diego diocese becomes the largest in the nation to file for bankruptcy, beset by more than 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by about 60 priests.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs charge that the diocese chose bankruptcy to avoid having details of the abuse claims come out in court.

2007 -- The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay $660 million to settle abuse claims brought by more than 500 people

2008 -- Pope Benedict announces that he is "deeply ashamed" by the sexual abuse scandals among priests in the U.S. He says the church will not allow pedophiles in the priesthood.

2010 -- Long-simmering allegations of priest sexual abuse come to the fore in Germany, Brazil and Ireland. One case alleges that when Pope Benedict was archbishop of Munich in the early 1980s, he approved the transfer of a priest who was accused of molesting boys. After then-Cardinal Ratzinger's departure, the priest was allowed to resume pastoral work, where he continued the pattern of abuse. A Vatican spokesman says the pope was not responsible for the priest's subsequent crimes.

Source:

http://www.vpr.net/npr/126160853/

So I am sticking with my guns on this one, history is a destructive tool if abuses but can be educational if used correctly. But history cannot be objective because there are always two sides to every coin... Now if only the one side is being told to cultivate hate... then clearly one must question motive.

And as the above have sown you, if religion is used for evil it can and will be devastating! Why would I allow my child “if I had children� to go to church with a “history� like the above mentioned.

The point I am making is that it is our responsibility as a parent to teach our children the truths of this world. Still it is easier to watch the “game� on TV then to sit down and teach them “because that is the teachers job anyway.�

[twinscythe12332]

History is perfectly fine. it's when selective history is taught, then there becomes a problem.

[Dave A]

Can you really mould a better future without learning lessons from the past? I agree with twin - there needs to be perspective, but denying our history is not the solution.

[AndyD]

If history was taught along with perspective then maybe it would stop repeating itself and the same mistakes wouldn't keep being made. We'd all progress faster as a race.

[wynn]

History is taught by the victor.
In our case there was no victor just concensus that we had to move past a point of political empass.
Teach your kids the correct sequences, if the history being taught in school is not factual, query it.

There was an interesting article last week where Barrack Obama had something to say about slavery, the article mentioned that his wife was a decendant of slavery.
What struck me was they never mentioned the fact that Obama's black forefathers were probably involved in capturing and selling the forefathers of his wife to traders and therefore into slavery.

The same as certain Politicians believe they won over apartheid, history will prove them wrong. It was the majority of moderate whites that allowed true democracy to take hold.
Eventually it will be the moderate majority of south Africans that will put history into perspective.