Howard Zinn's The People Speak

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After watching the film, Howard Zinn’s “The People Speak” there are many things that continued to stay on my mind and really open my eyes more than ever before. This film was intended to present history from a view that has never been heard. When looking back in history, and even in today’s events you see the people picketing, or on the street rioting, this film is intended to be the voice of these people. I learned so many things from this film and I’m so glad I did because it has definitely given me a new outlook on history and how there is no real truth because there are so many different perspectives.
One of the fist major things that stood out to me during the film was discussing the Revolutionary War. I don’t remember much about being …show more content…
We teach history to prepare students to become good citizens and knowledgeable regarding politics or major events in our history. Students should be taught to have a voice and stand up for what they believe in. Teaching history can promote that, when discussing a war there are always two sides to it, by showing the students each sides point of view they are able to construct their own opinions on it. Teaching history can give the students a desire to make changes in the world. Challenging stereotypes or mindsets of students over controversial topics will push these students from thinking inside of the box and will help them voice their true opinions and get them thinking deeper about what’s going on in todays society and …show more content…
Students should be encouraged to connect it to another event in history or finding similar things to an event in today’s world. When students are able to make these connections history becomes a lot more interesting and important to them. This is a way to help students see that some events may be in the past, but similar events are still happening today, this is way to make history come alive to students. All of these ways Howard Zinn pointed out that could help with teaching history and why we teach it are so important and helpful for me. I’ve learned through these videos and this article that teachers have a hard time deciding how teach these controversial issues, and there’s some teachers that completely avoid them. The teachers that are promoting these kinds of discussions in the classroom are really opening the student’s eyes to different cultures, issues, civil rights movements, social movements, and teaching them that no one is wrong. Each student can have their own opinion on something, and if that’s what they believe in then the teacher should praise that confidence of taking a stand for their beliefs. Teachers that avoid these controversial topics or teaching history by dates and memorization are only hurting the students from stepping outside of the box, and gaining their voice as an American citizen in our society. History is more
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