Last month, the Smithsonian magazine included a startling article on a recent survey conducted by Sam Wineburg to the "famous" Americans since the days of Columbus, several presidents and first ladies to be determined. According to a survey of school-age children, six of the most famous women in American and four are African-Americans.
In order, these were the top ten:
1 Martin Luther King Jr.
2 Rosa Parks
3 Harriet Tubman
4 Susan B. Anthony
5 BenzoinFranklin
6 Amelia Earhart
7 Oprah Winfrey
Marilyn Monroe 8
9 Thomas Edison
10 Albert Einstein
At first glance, this is not a list of both the ten most famous Americans or the ten most important Americans. (Mr. Wineburg concluded that he obtained the same results if he had asked participants to call "important" for Americans.) But the survey we learn (or remember) three things.
First, children usually tell adults what they thinkshould. That's why no rappers or wrestlers study the list. Every boy has heard of "diversity" knows that will not go wrong by identifying Martin Luther King or Susan B. Anthony as a person of fame.
Second, political correctness has triumphed in our history lessons. This survey makes it clear that history teachers (now, unfortunately, "social studies" teachers) now give so much time to the most famous women in American history, as are men, and how longAfrican-Americans compared to Caucasians. What is the name of Harriet Tubman to explain in this list? His is a great story, students should know. But who would seriously argue that had more than a very small impact on American history - even the history of abolition? What else can explain the name of a woman aviator best known for failing to fly around the world?
However, my concern with the third lesson I draw from this list: History teachers giveSupremacy for the threads of American history, the struggle for equal rights at the expense of all others.
Where are the pioneers and explorers in this list? No more students do not learn of Lewis and Clark? Or even about Sacagawea? Fifty years ago there were television programs of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett coonskin hats and the guys all wanted. I wonder if kids today even know who they were. Not the Wright brothers? Or Charles Lindbergh? What about JohnGlenn and Neil Armstrong? They are teachers today embarrassed that Americans conquered the wilderness, learned to fly, orbited the earth and walked on the moon?
Where are the generals and admirals? General Washington and General Grant were not on the list because they were the president, but what about Commodore Perry? General Robert E. Lee? General Douglas MacArthur? Surely we are not ashamed of the military successes that we are free and democratic for 200 years! PinkParks was a hero in good faith and a catalyst for the civil rights movement, but what about Revolutionary War catalysts Paul Revere (the midnight rider) or Nathan Hale ("I only regret that I only have one life to give for my country" ). We think that the revolutionary war was not worth much because the Founding Fathers left slavery in place?
Which of the giants of industry and finance like Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, Andrew Mellon, John D. Rockefeller, George Eastman and John Paul Getty? Ifshould political correctness is de-emphasizing military history in our curriculum, I suppose it will be a surprise if children do not have the men who built modern America is taught. When I was a kid, everyone knew that the only two billionaires in the world (Getty and Howard Hughes). In 2008, Bill Gates was not on a list of famous Americans?
Where are the giants of American philanthropy (essentially the same names as the giants of industry and finance)?
Where are thereligious leaders? For 50 years, Billy Graham's name sat atop the polls of the most admired Americans while other names came and went. One can only conclude that decades of muddled ideas about "separation of church and state" in schools, people are reluctant, in which this man of God in the same breath with such secular saints such as Martin Luther King and Susan B. Anthony.
Where are all in this list of American writers, poets, musicians, artists? Harriet Beecher Stowe, RalphWaldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, or Ernest Hemingway? Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, or Leonard Bernstein? Surely Mark Twain, America's greatest writers and the characters of the first order in his time, or Louis Armstrong, the greatest musicians of the jazz world achieved fame enough for this list.
The survey shows, at least, that children learn about scientific and technological achievements of the Americans, with Franklin, Edison, Einstein, and eachWho made the cut.
The real proof that the children interviewed said that they thought, she is actually saying that there are only two entertainers of the list (Marilyn Monroe and Oprah). No Babe Ruth? Or Madonna? Sinatra? Elvis?
Millions flock to Graceland, Elvis records are still sold millions, and Elvis impersonators still proliferate. Held here in Rochester, but fighting a small non-profit organization Susan B. Anthony 's modest inner-city site open to the publicas a museum. My last visit was well worth the time, but I wonder if even 5,000 people visit the Susan B. Anthony House in a year. Are we to believe that this extraordinary woman is most famous American of Elvis?
We can be sure of one thing: our children are taught that our nation's greatest heroes are not pioneers, soldiers, writers, or preachers, but those responsible for the crusade for civil rights. Four of the names on the list represents the struggle for racial equality(King, Parks, Tubman, and Winfrey), two of the names are with the struggle for women's rights (Anthony, Earhart) has been identified. Civil rights are all well and good, but it's not just American history.
A colleague has not been without its critics with constructive ideas of their own. I mocked the results of a survey of school children by Sam Wineburg, which distorts the list of American celebrities who have been badly hit by political correctness was performed.
But if the children in the survey did notreally select the ten most famous people in American history that should be on that list?
Reported in this survey, in the Smithsonian, the American Presidents and First Ladies were not eligible. Let's start with this stick. But let me propose two lists, one for men, one for women.
Ten famous American men:
1 Benjamin Franklin
2 Martin Luther King Jr.
3 Babe Ruth
4 Albert Einstein
5 Mark Twain
6 Billy Graham
7 Elvis Presley
8 Lewis & Clark
9Louis Armstrong
10 Charles Lindbergh
Their claim to fame?
Benjamin Franklin. Catalyst of the American Revolution, once the most famous person in the world. He invented the Franklin stove, bifocals, the lightning rod. Printer, scientist, politician, diplomat, writer. Poor Richard Almanac. Ben Franklin impersonators. Picture on the hundred-dollar bill.
Martin Luther King Jr. Catalyst of the American movement for civil rights and leads to lasting changes in the racial laws andAttitudes. A history of famous speeches ("I Have a Dream"). National holiday its name.
Babe Ruth. One of the biggest names in the national game of America. Larger-than-life personality. It could be almost as good as it could have hit up. Even more great Mohammed Ali or Joe DiMaggio. Candy bar named after him.
Albert Einstein. The physicist and discoverer of the theory of relativity, must be reconstructed through fewer than a dozen people. It is not a mad scientist, but looked the part. Synonymouswith the genius.
Mark Twain. Our greatest writer, creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Steamboat operator, humorist, lecturer, literary critic. Immensely popular during his life. Mark Twain imitators.
Billy Graham. America's most famous religious figure. He has brought millions of people to faith in Jesus Christ crusades around the world. Better to sell books. Prayed with the president. Modest lifestyle, scandal lifeless.
Elvis Presley. The King of Rock and Roll. "Jailhouse Rock," "LoveMe Tender, "" Suspicious Minds, "" Burning Love. "B-movie star. Las Vegas nightclub star. Legend cemented by early death. Graceland. Elvis Impersonators.
Lewis & Clark. Captain Meriwether Lewis, Lieutenant William Clark, America's most famous explorers. Paddled the Missouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, reached the Atlantic. We could not do it without the guide and translator Sacagawea Shoshone (picture-dollar coin).
Louis Armstrong. America the greatest jazz musicians. ExpansivePersonality, style, unique voice and trumpet. "Hello Dolly". The ubiquitous "What a Wonderful World."
Charles Lindbergh. "Lucky Lindy." Celebrities from the unprecedented solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Child kidnapped and killed in the crime of the century. "Spirit of St. Louis" in the Smithsonian Institution.
If the list has gone up to 20 men famous Americans, could also (11) Thomas Alva Edison (inventor), (12) Wright Brothers (Pilot), (13) Walt Disney (Filmmaker)(14) Frank Sinatra (singer), (15) Henry Ford (auto mogul) (16), Muhammed Ali (boxing champion), (17) Robert E. Lee (General), (18) Daniel Webster (statesman) (19), John D. Rockefeller (oil tycoon and philanthropist) and (20) Ralph Waldo Emerson (writer and philosopher).
Candidates for an even longer list of famous American men might also Nathan Hale (Revolutionary War hero), Daniel Boone (pioneer), Bill Gates (Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist), John Wayne (actor)Winslow Homer (painter), Alexander Graham Bell (inventor), Robert Frost (poet), Douglas MacArthur (General), John Glenn (astronaut), Norman Rockwell (painter and illustrator), Frederick Douglass (abolitionist and editor), Henry David Thoreau (writer and philosopher), Henry Clay (statesman), Jack London (screenplay), William Penn (Quaker founder of Pennsylvania), Howard Hughes (billionaire), Houdini (magician), Norman Vincent Peale (priest and author), Ernest Hemingway ( author), F. ScottFitzgerald (writer), Andy Warhol (painter), Walt Whitman (poet), Horace Greeley (newspaper), Billy Sunday (Protestant evangelist), John C. Calhoun (statesman), Neil Armstrong (astronaut).
Ten famous women:
1 Oprah Winfrey
Marilyn Monroe 2
3 Pocahontas
4 Helen Keller
5 Emily Dickinson
6 Harriet Beecher Stowe
7 Susan B. Anthony
8 Betsy Ross
9 Edith Wharton
10 Amelia Earhart
Their claim to fame:
Oprah Winfrey. Fabulouslyrich, incredibly popular television talk host, producer, magazine publisher, entrepreneur, book critic, philanthropist.
Marilyn Monroe. Actress, Model. Posed for Playboy. Married Joe DiMaggio. Elton John's "Candle in the Wind."
Pocahontas. Daughter of Chief Powhatan. Saved Virginia colonists from starving risked his life to save John Smith. Married John Rolfe, died in England. Disney Animated Movies.
Helen Keller. A double wall on disability. Author, suffragette,political activist. Oscar-winning "The Miracle Worker."
Emily Dickinson. Solitary New England spinster, first-rate poet.
Since I could not stop death
He kindly gave me -
The carriage held but just ourselves -
And immortality
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Most effective opponent of American slavery. History of the cabin most influential novel, Uncle Tom.
Susan B. Anthony. Suffragette, orator, abolitionist, temperance advocate. SentencedRochester for voting illegally. America's most influential advocates of rights for women, responsible for Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony Bridgeeventual adoption of the amendment of the nineteenth century. New bridge over the Genesee River in Rochester, after her and Frederick Douglass (known locally as "Freddie-Sue") named. Picture a dollar coin.
Betsy Ross. Fighting Quaker, Revolutionary War patriot. Presumably designed and have the Stars and Stripes did, although probablynot.
Edith Wharton. First Class American writer, landscape architect, war reporter. The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence. For every tenth grader, Ethan Fromme.
Amelia Earhart. Pioneer woman aviator, feminist icon. First woman to fly the Atlantic alone. Disappeared in the Pacific trying to fly around the world.
Other famous women: Madonna (singer), Rosa Parks (civil rights catalyst), Lucille Ball (actress), Flannery O'Connor (writer), Virginia Woolf (Author), ArethaFranklin (singer), Sacagawea (Indian leader), Sandra Day O'Connor (Supreme Court), Billie Jean King (tennis champion), Ida Tarbell (investigative journalist), Katharine Hepburn (actress), Harriet Tubman (hero of Underground Railroad ), Carrie Nation (temperance crusader), Dorothy Parker (writer), Margaret Mead (anthropologist), Gertrude Stein (writer). Still more possible candidates are in the National Women's Hall of Fame, mostly non-entertainers. Disqualified from our list becauseThe wives of Presidents: Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Abigail Adams.
Of course, fame and earned fame are different matters. They are celebrities. Lists of men and women strictly based on power and historical importance would be very different.
0 comments:
Post a Comment