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The Forum > Article Comments > Why our greatest story is just not being told > Comments

Why our greatest story is just not being told : Comments

By Kevin Donnelly, published 30/1/2006

Kevin Donnelly argues the nation's heritage is being forgotten in history lessons.

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We learn two things about Kev from this piece. One his motives are religious based. And two he is happy to describe a complex issue into a simply one so he can blame someone else for the problem.
The real problem here is their are a bunch of conservatives trying to stop a revolution in Australia and indeed much of the world. this is just one front in the battle between progressive and conservative forces.....
or is it simply that kids have to learn so much now and come out of high school job ready that subjects like history and geography have changed.

Come up with alternatives Kev it’s easy to poke holes in things and make vague statements.
Posted by Kenny, Monday, 30 January 2006 12:07:08 PM
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I tend to agree ledingham.
There is a middle course between history as propaganda & history as national mourning. We could teach all the history, as you suggest, from all sides. That means we teach the good AND bad in this country. The good it has accomplished AND the harm it has done.
But, you're right, any conclusion about history MUST be considered tentative. I would also add that students need to be taught to read the primary texts critically, examining the assumptions of the writers not to condemn but to understand.
Posted by Bosk, Monday, 30 January 2006 12:19:13 PM
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I agree with Ledingham. To begin with we should recognise that we are all subjective in our interpretation of the facts. For instance I disagree with Kevin Donnelly's interpretation of recent election results as implying that Australians have rejected the 'black armband' view of history. They may have, but I doubt if it was a consideration in most voters' choice of political party. There is even a problem with the 'facts' we choose to identify and the importance we bestow upon them. We can see this every day in the media.
Posted by DAVIDAHA, Monday, 30 January 2006 12:20:05 PM
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A few years ago a friend was taking some anthropology classes at university. The lecturer spent some time telling the students how cannibalism was a myth which had been invented by evil white men to tarnish the reputation of black people.
As a child, I had met an old patrol officer in New Guinea who had been present at a cannibal feast so I knew the lecturer was lying.
Beyond that through general reading I know that cannibalism of various sorts has been practised by most races of man at some time or other. There are written records for instance in the Tain, describing antique irishmen eating hearts to obtain their vanquished enemies courage, and everyone knows about the rugby team that crashlanded in the Andes not long ago.
What amazes me is that an academic can teach outright lies and not be punished in any way.
The same thing happens in history.
As a society we need to sack these liars and make sure they are never hired again.
Posted by Bull, Monday, 30 January 2006 1:23:40 PM
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"Ignored, as demonstrated by recent elections, is that the Australian people have passed judgment on the history wars and the black armband view, so prevalent during the Keating years, has been rejected."

So Kevin is saying that the election was won on the basis of what goes on in history classes. I can't say I recall the big "we'll change history classes forever" election campaign.
This basically says "We won! Ha ha! Everything we say and do is right, because we won!" Truly infantile logic.
Posted by Sams, Monday, 30 January 2006 2:35:14 PM
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Yeah Sams, I just picked up on that as the big whopper in this article. John Howard's election campaign had nothing to do with high school history. It is not even a federal issue!

And now that I think about it, Labor is in power at the state level. So if even if true, it' actually false. It's a double whopper.

I tend to agree with Ledingham's post above (30jan05).
Posted by David Latimer, Monday, 30 January 2006 2:45:17 PM
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