The Importance of Teaching Bias and Perspective in Social Studies

 

 

Obligatory Personal Anecdote 

Unlike many students in the United States I never got the chance to to visit D.C. for a class trip which means that I got to see the capital for the first time earlier this year as an adult with a history degree and in school to become a social studies teacher. Perhaps this is why my experience resonated so deeply with me when I went out to tour the many historical museums in the history and I found myself struck by the dichotomy at the core of our national history. 

I started the day at the African History Museum learning about the horrific beginnings of the African-American population in the United States and their struggle for freedom in the face of systematic oppression. After that sobering experience I then right afterwards walked through the bright and cheerful celebration of American culture and achievements that is the Museum of American History. Despite a few obligatory references to slavery I found myself dazed at the completely different perspectives of the same history and it made me think more about how I wanted to eventually approach this in my classroom. 

Why?

One of the initial misconceptions among students with social studies that a teacher must overcome is the surprisingly popular belief of students that people are reliable narrators of the past. Many students will often take historical sources at their word and in doing so are missing out on such a fascinating and complex way to view history and politics. 

While building student knowledge of facts and events is important I would argue that it is even more so for students to understand the different ways that people can perceive the same events. A teacher's goal is for students to not only become more educated but also develop their critical thinking skills in areas that will be incredibly important for them later on in life. In a modern world with an increasing amount of disinformation and polarization of views students might find that sorting out the complexities of the past will help them make better sense of their daily lives. 

Types of Historical Bias

Primary Source Bias- Most primary sources that student encounter will have a bias or ulterior purpose behind their creation and if students aren't trained to recognize these perspectives they may miss the underlying meaning of the primary source. If students however learn to take perspective and bias into account when reading primary sources they will better be able to understand not only the events that happened but the crucial why that is so important to a well rounded understanding of history. An example of a primary source bias would include Caesar's writings in the De Bello Gallico on his war in Gaul which happens to be one of the only sources on that conflict and also conveniently depicts Caesar as an extremely accomplished general. 

Historian Bias- Not only is it critical for students to understand the perspectives of those who were alive in the time period they are studying but also how those events have been shaped and looked at afterwards by historians. A compelling example I came across was in a Colby University course on revolutions that discussed the different ways the French and Haitian revolutions have been remembered over time. 

Despite all the guillotine deaths and massive wars it caused the French Revolutions is often looked at as a net positive due to the spread of Enlightenment ideals while the positives of the Haitian Revolution, freeing slaves, has been overshadowed by it's violent aspects. The course makes the interesting point that there are a lot more writings preserved from those who participated in the French Revolution versus those who participated in the Haitian Revolution thus allowing over time for a more favorable interpretation of the events. This brings another important lesson for students to remember in social studies which is to consider the voices that are not present in the historical narrative. 

https://web.colby.edu/continuingrevolutions/2016/12/09/historical-bias-on-revolutions/#:~:text=The%20Haitian%20Revolution%20compared%20to,even%20written%20in%20history%20books. 

How to Make Sense of It All

Untangling centuries of historical bias and perspective is certainly a lot easier said than done. It involves diving through research, reading opposing narratives, and piecing all of this together to try and create a balance and reasonable narrative. That is why when introducing these concepts to students I would recommend starting with a topic that they are already very familiar with and using the ideas of bias and perspective to look deeper into it. A great example of this would be the video below from the Crash Course YouTube Channel by John Green which examines the American Revolution and the differing perspectives on who really benefited from it. That way most students will still remember the important events but can now look at them in new ways and from perspectives that they might have never imagined before. 

One Final Note

While it is sometimes easier to talk about the bias and perspectives of other it is also important to remember that we all have our own bias that must be taken into account when we talk about the important topics of politics, history, and economics in the social studies classroom. It should always be worth asking ourselves if we are inserting our own perspectives and remember that students see us an authority figure and they trust our judgement. Therefore it is a teacher's responsibility to make sure that they are giving student's the tools to think and make judgements on their own without our influences guiding them.