Skip to Content
Citation: 

Barton, Keith C. “Wars and Rumors of War: The Rhetoric and Reality of History Education in the United States.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 187-202. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary: 

History education is often misconstrued and many false assumptions are made in U.S. history education. In this chapter, Barton aims to challenge these misconceptions. He focuses on three common myths. His intent is to educate U.S. citizens but also to impact international audiences concerning the supposed wars in US history and how many of these “wars” were little more than “rumors of war.” The chapter is organized in order to discuss and dispel each of the three myths in turn. The first rumor or myth is that history is not a major focus in school curricula and is struggling to remain relevant. According to Barton, this is not the case as students’ knowledge of history is not declining from generations past; students today know as little about his or her own history as the generations before them. The second myth he aims to dispel is that history and social studies are vying for space within the school curriculum. According to Barton, teachers view history and social studies the same as chemistry and science; they are a part of the same subject. The final myth that Barton discusses concerns the politics of liberals and conservatives in the United States battling for control of school history curriculum. He states that while these myths may be persuasive, they are little more than rumors in practical classroom application. Barton discusses the tensions, such as differing purposes of history and the difficulty in understanding history, in history classrooms that affect the content and practice of the curriculum in the United States. Any reform should be based on the veracity of lived experience of teachers and not the perpetuated myths and purported wars.

Source/Credit: 
Erika Smith