Earlier this year, as one of the final actions of President Donald Trump’s administration, the 1776 commission published a report on what should be done to support “patriotic education” in the United States.
The commission, which was dissolved by President Biden, was formed in part in response to the 1619 project that focused on the consequences of slavery and the role of black Americans in the country’s history.
The question of how to teach history and whose stories are told is not new, but an increased focus on social justice has breathed new life into the conversation. As part of the Uintah Basin Teen Reporter Corp project, I’m looking at how history is taught in some schools in eastern Utah.
Native American history is an integral part of the history of the state of Utah. The Uintah Basin I live in is home to the Ute Indian Tribe and the Uintah and Ouray Reservations. While it seems that most people believe that students should learn about Indians as part of our curriculum, there are
Asking whether or not what we are learning is appropriate.
“A lot of kids don’t even know there are indigenous people. A lot of people think they’re extinct because they only teach traditional lifestyles,” said Shawna Failner, who teaches social sciences at Uintah River High School.
Uintah River is a Duchesne school on the Uintah and Ouray Reservations. Since the school’s charter is from the Ute tribe, the school’s educators work with tribal leaders to determine how Ute history is taught at the school. And while this may help, it’s just a small piece of a larger picture.
Milo Ralphs is a student at Uintah High in Vernal and said he doesn’t think he’s studying enough when it comes to how history is taught.
“I believe that we are not equally taught about other cultures and that we are mainly taught about the history of mostly Caucasian Catholics, Mormons and Christians,” Ralphs said.
When I asked him if he thought we were being properly educated about Native American culture, Ralphs said no.
“Most of it is just their dances,” he said.
At the national level, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and conversations about social justice have resulted in more people discussing cultural representation and the teaching of American history in schools. It’s a point of contention. Earlier this year, parents of students in North Ogden had the opportunity to exclude their children from Black History Month. The decision was reversed, but the conversation affected many individuals and heads of state.
However, not all believe that there is a lack of representation in the curriculum. Jason Winder teaches social science at Uintah High and said he teaches his students adequate amounts about “most of the cultures in the United States.”
James Head is a geography teacher who also teaches at Uintah High. He said improvements have been made but sees room for further progress.
“It could use an update,” he said. “It could be better.”
Another Uintah geography teacher, Dennis Hull, agreed.
“I think it would be great to expand some of the cultures we have,” he said.
This is also the opinion of Failner.
“From what I’ve seen with history education, the maximum time indigenous culture is put into the history curriculum, even across the country, not just our state, is basically what tribes were before Europeans came here came, “she said. “They focus on their traditional ways of life and lifestyles. And then they could go on the trail of tears or go to one of the wars in the 19th century. “
One solution to this problem is to communicate with leaders and representatives of Native American tribes and nations in the United States to ensure that their culture is being taught properly. Failner said on the Uintah River that the relationship educators like her have with the Ute tribe makes a difference in how indigenous history and culture are taught.
“We have a unique situation of being led by the tribe,” she said. “Our charter is through the Ute tribe, so we definitely have a lot more culture in our school than in the surrounding districts.”
This is something that Hull would like to improve on other schools in the area.
“We do a lot to work with the Ute tribe and then vice versa,” he said. “They have clubs. You have organizations. I would love to see more of a Ute history class featured here and maybe their language taught here in high school. “
Head said he thinks one improvement he can make in his classroom is teaching more about how
Cultures interact with each other.
“Since I’m the only one in charge of the Geography II class, I try to bring this to the table when we do Geography II and look at other cultures and beliefs and systems from their point of view,” he said.
But even when teachers want to do these things in order to improve, they run into one major problem: time.
“Are we covering everything? Do we have enough time? No, we don’t, ”said Winder. “If we do trimesters, we have to do a whole semester in 12 weeks”
Still, Head believes changes can be made by shifting the focus of the history class.
“In modern world history we are trying to make it less Eurocentric and add more things about India, Africa and other perspectives,” he said better. “
Failner agreed.
“Every time you choose a standard, they should reach out to leaders in the different communities and ask them what that standard means for their community and group so they know what to include in that standard,” she said . “It is good to know how the American people as a whole have been affected by these events in history, but it is also good to know how individual groups have been affected.”
This story was told as part of the UPRah Basin Teen Reporter Corp. produced by UPR. Teen Reporter Corp is a community partnership between Utah Public Radio, the Utah Humanities, Smithsonian Institution, Uintah County Library, Hyrum City Museum, and Bear River Heritage Area.
This story also ran on the Vernal Express.
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