As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary next year, teachers across the country are wrestling with a question that has become increasingly complicated in modern America: How should the nation’s history be taught?
For generations, American students often learned a relatively straightforward version of the country’s founding story – one centered on heroic revolutionaries, the Declaration of Independence and the promise of freedom and democracy.
Today, many educators say the challenge is no longer simply teaching historical facts, but helping students understand a more complicated national story that includes both America’s founding ideals and its contradictions. [Read more…] about As America turns 250, teachers face a difficult question: How should the nation tell its story?