(AgapePress) - A patriotic author says many public school students are no longer being taught about the true heroes of American history. He says, for example, that many students in northern, western, and eastern states no longer have admiration for famous Civil War generals.

Dr. Peter Gibbon has spent more than three years traveling the country talking to middle- and high-school students about heroes. After visiting more than 20 states and speaking with thousands of kids, Gibbon has found that revisionist history curriculum is more pervasive than it ever has been.

"I've had a number of students ask me why Lincoln was a racist," he says, "or about the 'Trail of Tears' and Andrew Jackson, or about Franklin Roosevelt and the internment camps.

"There is a focus on the 'dark side' of American history in schools that I think is certainly unusual [when] compared to previous centuries and decades in American history."

Gibbon believes all students should be taught that Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson are heroes because of their military prowess and sacrifice. He recalls an episode when he was speaking in Florida, regarding a newspaper article that was critical of General Lee.

"For the next week, the Fort Myers paper was filled with eulogies and praises of Robert E. Lee [asking] 'How could you tarnish this great man?'" he says. "I'm amazed at the veneration that Robert E. Lee still has in the South."

Gibbon, a research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is author of the book A Call to Heroism: Renewing America's Vision of Greatness.

© 2003 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines