Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Patriotic/Unpatriotic Facts After teaching middle school Social Studies for many years, I decided to go back to school to get my graduate degree. In one of my classes, we studied James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me. I was so influenced by this book and the idea that we have been presenting students inaccurate information that I have been thoroughly researching the content I teach before presenting it to my students. Recently we have been studying international affairs of the US government. Some of the information I presented revealed actions the US government engaged in other countries that resulted in killings and disturbances. My students were interested in the materials and some of the issues we discussed in class made dinner-time discussions at home. One of the parents who is a retired army officer came to the school to talk to my principal. He told the principal that I was indoctrinating students. When my principal told me about this, I explained to her that all the information I presented was factual and that I researched the information from multiple resources. Her suggestion to me was that I should focus more on teaching patriotic materials. I am so frustrated that I do not have the support of my principal. Also, I disagree that what I teach is unpatriotic. I am simply trying to teach accurate information. If I continue doing what I do, I may lose my job. However, I do not want to give up teaching my students the truth. How should I go about this issue? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I think it is important to take a step back and look how the material was presented to the students. Is it possible that the teacher thought she was giving the truth, but failed to show all sides of the situation? I do not agree that all subject matter that is taught in schools should be patriotic; however, material should be impartial and show both sides of the facts. I felt that this teacher was so moved by her graduate school reading that she went searching for materials that could be inaccurate. Also, was the material that she covered appropriate at a middle school level? In my opinion, an in your face style of teaching, maybe lost on a middle school population and should be held off until the high school. I could understand how a parent could believe that the teacher was indoctrinating students, if his child did not understand material that was taught. Does the teacher need to sugarcoat the facts, no; but the teacher needs to understand that this subject can be difficult for school middle school students to comprehend.