This has certainly not been my experience. I find many people very
threatened by the presentation of "others'" history. A student once dropped
my course telling me that he expected history to be about battles and who
won. He was right my course was the wrong for him. Trying to get students
to focus on the experience of slaves or women or Asian immigrants during
the Gold Rush rather than the movements of government and war often
stretches their definition of history and once that is done a teacher
should be able to help them start applying that new idea to the future--or
at least to the present.
mary jo powell
<mpowell@sedl.org>
Austin TX