Quit Revamping History

Jay in England sent me this link. I wish more educators would come to their senses and quit teaching politically correct history.

The Telegraph: Put Cook back on curriculum, Canberra tells schools---

Two centuries after he dropped anchor in Botany Bay, Capt James Cook has sailed into a political storm in Australia, the country he put on the map.

Once honoured as an Australian hero, the 18th century English navigator has been sidelined - even vilified - in recent decades in a nation embarrassed by its bloody colonial past and the cruel treatment of its indigenous population.

But the Australian government vowed yesterday to reverse the tide of political correctness that had swept Cook, who claimed Australia for the British crown in 1770, and other European "colonisers" from the national school curriculum.

Julie Bishop, the federal education minister, announced that there will be a radical overhaul in the way history is taught in Australian schools, which will see a return to the narrative form of history, free of political interpretation.

"Every school child should know when and why Capt James Cook sailed along the east coast of Australia, who was our first prime minister, why we were involved in two world wars and how federation came about," she said.

Miss Bishop accused politically correct educators of hijacking history, presenting Australia's past through a filter of Marxist, feminist and Green interpretations. "There is too much indoctrination and not enough pivotal facts and dates," she said.

Her comments echoed the views of John Howard, the prime minister, who recently called for a "root and branch" overhaul of the way history is taught in Australian schools. He also wants to see pupils saluting the Australian flag at morning assembly, a practice last seen in the 1960s.
[. . .]
Well-known for his love of British institutions - especially cricket, the monarchy and the Westminster system of government - Mr Howard told a radio audience that school children should have "some understanding" of British and European history, the Enlightenment and the influence of Christianity on Western civilisation.

Although the education minister has commissioned two historians to map out how history can return to the national curriculum, the Canberra government faces stiff opposition from the Labour-controlled state governments who run the schools.

Bravo, Julie Bishop. Bravo, Mr. Howard.

There is no room for political correctness in history. We must learn from the past in order to create a good future. By feminizing or Liberalizing history, we only cause ourselves problems. It would be far better to learn from true past mistakes, rather than create new PC versions that blame all white and the West for all the evils of the world. The truth is that Western civilization is the basis for most of the good in the world. We shouldn't forget that.

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