What Should Teachers Teach American Students about Christopher Columbus?

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Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Challenges. Discussion »

For decades, students throughout the United States have learned the song with lyrics that began, "In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue… "

Christopher Columbus the Romanticized Myth

The song really is a packaged history lesson that teaches American students that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America. For young students, this song begins the theory of discovery for young impressionable students. The song seeks to romanticize the efforts of Columbus; thus he becomes a hero to students.

For at least the past two decades, American Indian groups have attempted to dispel the myth that Columbus discovered our America.

Many American Indians choose not celebrate Columbus Day, but rather have chosen to call the day Indigenous People's Day. If looking at the anti-Columbus postings on Facebook this week by American Indians is any indication how this holiday is received by American Indians, it would be abolished.

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What should teachers teach American students about Christopher Columbus?

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posted October 7, 2011 8:10 am edt