Last week, someone mentioned that in the south, the Civil War was always taught as The War of Northern Aggression. I have never heard the Civil War referred to as that in my entire life, so it really got me interested in how the same subject could be taught so differently depending on your geographic location. The material that kids learn are so biased based on what their teachers chose to teach them and their teachers' biases come from what they learned in school. So the education system is a cycle of biases. I think that it is really strange that a student in the south could be learning completely different things from a student in the north. I think that there needs to be a way for the gap in the education system to be bridged.
It was mentioned in class that the Civil War wasn't about slavery, but was about "the north trying to destroy the south's economy." While I respect that person's opinion, I believe that the main reason for the war was about slavery. There were obviously other factors, but the central conflict of the war, based off of my previous knowledge, was slavery. A professor at Clemson University wrote here about her experience of hearing about the War of Northern Aggression from some of her students. She asked her students to think about the rhetoric of the terminology, "about why a specific region calls it something that inherently blames the entire rest of the country for the war and its devastating repercussions to the South." I think the terminology in itself teaches students in the south that the south was the innocent side in the war. The north came in to ruin the south and take away their rights. I probably also have a pretty biased view of the war, in thinking that the north was a reluctant hero of sorts, just trying to free the slaves and keep the country united. However, I am trying to gain a less biased view of everything that I learn, so I am trying to be open to every side of history.
How do you think our education system is impacted by bias? Is there a way to eliminate it? Also, what do you think about the Civil War being referred to as The war of Northern Aggression?
Frankly, I believe that referring to the Civil War as "Northern Aggression" leaves a heck of a lot unsaid. Primarily, saying that one side was trying to ruin the other's economy only make sense if you think of them as two separate countries to start with. Otherwise it's all one economy, and crippling the south would have destabilized the north - in fact, after the war, the country as a whole was weakened by the damages of war.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as for the cause of the war, slavery was just the spark, the powder keg went all the way back to 1776, consisting of a long-term squabble over a) taxes, and b) state government right versus federal government rights. The southern states felt that the (admittedly slightly north-dominated) central government had too much control over what they wanted to do (this is where slavery entered the fight).
Although I think some people can make their biases less obvious, I think it's impossible to entirely eliminate bias when teaching. As to the Civil War also being known as the War of Northern Aggression, I also think it's quite interesting and says a lot about the South and their attitude towards the Civil War. However, I wonder about how the South thinks of the fact that the North calls the war, "the Civil War." I'm sure if I grew up thinking of it as the War of Northern Aggression, I would also think it is quite strange that Northerners call it the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteI actually can see why the Civil War is called the War of Northern Aggression. The war was caused by the North invading the South, practically unprovoked. There were few to none acts of aggression on either side before the North attacked the South. It was mainly an invasion based on morals more than anything else. Also, in regards to educational biases, I agree with Maddie. You cannot cover up biases, if they are what you are taught. It is a vicious circle in a way. One will educate how one was educated, for the most part. In the South, people are educated with this iconoclasm. It cannot be shaken in the foreseeable future. I don't believe it can be covered up.
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