Christopher Columbus and Santa Claus

Reading through the various 'lies my teacher told me' in Alexie’s book, it has not been the underplaying of important characters in American history that frustrates me the most. Rather, it is the deliberate lies that are tossed around as truth in our educational systems. This became extremely evident from the beginning of the book, but rose in absurdity as the chapters progressed. In the chapter about the first Thanksgiving, the different versions of the stories that these textbook publishers claim as truth are humorous even. I was laughing as I read through the different mentions of the Native population in the Americas. One textbooks states, “There were only 1,000,000 Native Americans.” Another states there were “some nomadic groups scattered about the country.” While a few state that there were actually ten to twelve million Native Americans before the European settlers arrived. Another instance of discrepancy in the Mayflower story is the conditions aboard the ship as some books claim violent storms and others claim calm and easy weather throughout the journey. Some textbooks claim the voyage was originally headed for Virginia while others say it was bound for Cape Cod on purpose all along. Some textbooks say that a storm blew the Pilgrims off course while others claim navigation error. Are they serious? It is almost as if these publishers are writing a children’s book rather than a factual event. Shouldn’t history books value truth to the utmost extent rather than romanticized stories with a happy ending and good moral? How are children supposed to become leaders in the future if the past has all been a lie? You feel so ignorant when you discover the truth about Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Its like the moment that you find out Santa Claus doesn’t exist or that Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is actually 30 years old. Everything was so beautiful and simple when you were younger, but at some point young adults need to become truth seekers. Teaching them these lies all the way through high school certainly is not beneficial for anyone. Just like children need to be told the myth, at some point we too need to know the truth.