European Imperialism and Slavery
In North America, culture is very much based on the experiences andhistory of the Europeans that settled on this continent centuries ago.America is based very much on European thought, and the subconsciousmentality of Americans does not hesitate to focus on ideas of Euro-superiority, despite all attempts made at creating an equal and diversesociety. The philosophy of education in North America has been influencedby the significant occurrences of European Imperialism and slavery, eventswhich left residual feelings of guilt and underlying themes of conspiracyin the curriculum of today's schools. It is important for students tounderstand the effects that coming from the texts of Euro-centric, pro-white historians, there is a large degree to which the events of the pastmay be taught with a skewed perspective, and that teachers will continue toedit curriculum to best serve their own interests. European Imperialism and the tragedy of the massive slave trade thatresulted were not positive events in our history. Europeans colonized andravished Africa for Europe's political and financial gain, with no respectfor the people or the cultures that thrived on the continent. "Europeans
Suddenly, Columbus wasn't such a great guy, and the Africans weren'tunderdeveloped and living in prehistoric conditions in their homeland. Then, when the children areintroduced to the rape, pillage, and destruction of the Native peoples ofAmerica and Africa by our own white ancestors, we can still have themindset of "Hey, at least we're not Nazis. In response tothis realization, American culture has a deep-set feeling of guiltregarding the events of time past. History has been"written" by white males of European decent for too long, and it is timethat we teach our children how to read between the lines. hemselves superior to non western societies, especially Africanones. " (Simms)The enslavement of Africans was a direct result of this mindset, althoughthis mindset was not actually based on fact. It was simply notconceivable to tell children of the horrors inflicted upon the indigenouspeople of American and African soil by the great historical Europeans. Traditionally, the way in which the schools address the issues of thecultures destroyed by Europeans is to lie about them. In a form of reparations,many Americans, including the American school systems by large, havebecome very driven to promote the cultures that were in fact destroyed bytheir ancestors. The vilification and denigration of African societies made Africansfeared and despised their own cultures, which most renounced. " (Bennett) Likewise, European Imperialism inAmerica was destructive to the lives and ways of the Native Americanpeoples who lived on the continent. In response to these feelings, we havebecome a society very much focused on the encouragement of diversity andthe creation of a multicultural environment.
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