Clinton B. Allison opens his essay on American mythmaking in Thirteen Questions with a description of a now-famous survey of the “top” discipline problems in American schools, comparing results from 1948 and 1988. In the mid-20th century, gum-chewing, loud talking, and running in the halls made the list; toward the close of the century, the list included rape, robbery, assault and burglary. Allison uses the survey as a springboard for a discussion of the American educational myth, the story of the “good old days”--essentially any time before 1960. Interestingly, the survey still can be found popping up in discussions of the plight of the education system (www.cchr.org, Oct. 28, 2000); its persistence demonstrating the perpetuation of the historical education myth that keeps us from finding constructive solutions to America’s educational problems. What, precisely, is the myth? What effect does it have on the American experience? What can we learn from the myth? Each question will be answered in turn.

First, to the first. We may define the historical myth as an unequivocal worship of the past that has become the rallying flag of the conservative movement. As Jo Anne Pagano writes,

But is this vision of pre-modern American education accurate? Kathleen Berry (1995) asserts, “[I]t seems students of the past, except for a select few, very few, were less interested, less exposed, and less able to participate in what Hirsh [sic] and Bloom romanticize as cultural literacy and rigorous intellectual pursuits” (p. 90) The McGuffey readers, for example, are touted as “useful... for those interested in traditional American values.” Yet as Joel Spring (2000) points out, they did more to preserve a rigid moral system and an inequitable social class structure through their stories and lessons. Furthermore, schools were hardly the ideal environment as might be inferred from the previously mentioned survey. Allison devastatingly deconstructs the survey, faulting its logic, ambiguous word choice and downright historical inaccuracy, meticulously pointing to the original sources, quoting teachers’ fears and concerns in annual reports from the mid-nineteenth century. His summation: “Incorrigible, even violent, behavior by some schoolchildren has been a continuing problem in American society” (Allison 1995, p. 85).

Furthermore, the myth ignores the trials and tribulations of the oppressed, the struggle for equity for women, racial and ethnic minority groups, and the poor (and these are not mutually exclusive categories by any means). The same period in which the supposed worst problems were gum-chewing and loud talking was also the same period in which blacks and whites attended separate (and far from equal) schools. As Kathleen Berry (1995) writes, “Students from that generation can share stories of conformity, complacency, and silenced voices.... To be heard, for example, as a physical handicapped [sic] female with a voice and a curious mind was impossible” (p. 90) Even the so-called positive aspects of education were inadequate. “Students were to learn not to break the law, but they were not taught how to deal actively with injustice” (Spring 2000, p. 143). In every aspect, the myth exaggerates and distorts, creating an image of an ideal era in American education that never existed.

What, then, is the danger of this rampant historical romanticism? The myth makes us ask the wrong questions and focus on the wrong methods. As Shirley Steinberg (1995) writes, “If teachers are not as good as they used to be, then simple-minded tests of teacher aptitude, teacher-proof materials, deskilled job descriptions are justifiable” (p. 64). The myth makes us seek “quick-fix” solutions, in the form of vouchers or reinstituting school prayer. Furthermore, the myth traps us in paradoxes, convincing us that “...teachers should be both selfless and self-made, that everything depends on them, and that teachers are always certain in their knowledge” (Britzman 1995, p. 72). It places an impossible burden of perfection on the instructor.

What lessons does the myth have for us? First of all, it teaches us that the past is as much in flux as the present, that history is continuously, unconsciously reinterpreted; or, as Deborah Britzman (1995) phrases it, “The slippery thing about history is that it must always be arranged” (p. 69). Our view of the past is shaped by our agenda for the present. As teachers, it is paramount that we recognize the historical biases incipient in the textbooks and materials we present to students, or even in our own formulation of curriculum, and that we teach our students to be critical of history, however it is presented. Secondly, the myth forces us to reexamine our role in the life of the nation. If we cannot “return” to a nonexistent ideal, we must instead focus on adapting to and changing the present. We must work to end the “terrible isolation” teachers face, to realize that we as instructors are part of a broader community, and that learning extends beyond the borders of the classroom (Britzman 1995). The myth is deeply implanted in American consciousness; once it is clarified and its effects clearly understood, it will take much conscious effort to root it out.

Allison, C. (1995). Students under suspicion. in J. L. Kincheloe and S. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Thirteen Questions (pp. 149-156). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Berry, K. (1995). Students under suspicion. in J. L. Kincheloe and S. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Thirteen Questions (pp. 149-156). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Britzman, D. (1995). Teachers under suspicion. in J. L. Kincheloe and S. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Thirteen Questions (pp. 149-156). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Steinberg, S. (1995). Teachers under suspicion. in J. L. Kincheloe and S. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Thirteen Questions (pp. 149-156). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Pagano, J. (1995). Women and education. in J. L. Kincheloe and S. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Thirteen Questions (pp. 141-148). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Spring, J. (2001). The American school. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Internet examples of the infamous survey:

http://www.horizon.unc.edu/projects/presentations/Wfs/tsld035.htm (no source cited)

http://www.snj.com/teenline/stats.htm (cited as from “US News and World Report”)

http://www.cchr.org/justice/toktbc2.htm (Citizens Council on Human Rights, “Teaching our Kids to be Criminals”)