Why It’s Impossible To Teach History Only Using ‘The Facts’

What teachers choose to cover (or not cover) during their limited classroom time will reveal what biases and agendas that educator has on American history.

“Ladies and gentlemen: The story you are about to see is true,” declared the introduction to the classic television program “Dragnet.” “All we want are the facts, ma’am,” asserted police officer “Joe Friday” during his investigations. True stories; just the facts: it seems so straightforward, doesn’t it? Not when American social studies curricula are concerned.

“I teach my students that [Thomas] Jefferson sat there and wrote ‘all...