Reflection #4

After looking back over the semester, I think it is clear that I will take a lot away from American Culture 201. Among many other things, the most important lesson I have learned throughout the class is to never take anything at face value and to always question everything. Growing up we are taught American history from a textbook that contains a very small selection of stories from the past. Not only have many aspects of our country’s history been left out of our education, but the stories we do hear are usually told from only one perspective. Although I have previously learned about many of the events and people we discussed in this course, I have only heard them from a single viewpoint. This class definitely helped to open my eyes and showed me how biased and protective the American education system is.

One of the stories that I think particularly exemplifies this point is the tale of Custer. As a child I remember learning about Custer as a hero who defeated the Native Americans and helped bring about the end of the wars. I have a distinct memory of my brother being assigned to a report on Colonel Custer as part of their American Heroes project. However, what we aren’t taught in the classroom is that Custer was actually an aggressive degenerate soldier who instigated a battle with Native Americans and probably deserved what he got. It is amazing to me that this story, and countless others, have been distorted so much. This class definitely made me look a lot more closely at the history education I have, and got me to question many of the stories that I have previously taken as fact. I have learned how important it is to look at everyone’s side of historical events and not just accept the version we have been taught.