Tell the truth or believe a lie from Columbus?

Would you like to be lied or would you like to be told the truth?

Most people would like to be told the truth but in fact there is a quote from the article from the sixth grade that i liked from Gina that says,

 "it seemed to  me as if the publisher had just printed up some 'glory story' that was supposed to make us feel more patriotic about our country. In our group, we talked about the possibility of the government trying to protect young students from such violence. we soon decided that that was probably one of the farthest things from their minds. They want us to look at our country as great, and powerful, and forever right. They want us to believe Columbus was a real hero. We're being fed lies. we don't question the facts, we just absorb information that is handed to us because we trust the role models that are handing it out"

By this quote it let me think that we may be believe things that may not be truth because we haven't question the facts because we think our country is far off from lies. Another quote I liked from this article says,

"I still wonder... if we can't believe what our first grade teacher told us, why should we believe you? if they lied to us, why why wouldn't you? If one book is wrong, why isn't another? what is your purpose in telling us about how awful Chris was? what interest do you have in telling us the truth? what is it you want from us?"

Discovering Columbus_Aug2011_sixth grade.pdf

From the article Columbus and stereotypes what not to teach about Native Americans, i like a quote that says, 

"As children become familiar with details of the Columbus story, they often ask questions such as, 'why do some books not tell the truth?' 'why was I told something else at home or last year in school?"

      Columbus and stereotypesWhat Not to Teach about Native Americans_Aug2011-3.pdf

By reading these two articles it's not so much important whether Columbus was a lier or not; but in whether we should believe in books. When topics like Columbus are revealed for example, we thought that Columbus discovered America or when he said, that the world was flat but, actually was round, we as readers we get the idea if many other books we had read are truth in their writings. As we have became more familiar with Columbus history we are thought at a very young age that he discovered America but as soon we get to high school we are thought a different view like Columbus was a lier and a very bad person who slaved Indians, who used Indians as slaves and killed a lot of them in looking for gold. Is it worth learning two completely different things in school where at a young age we a teach that Columbus was a hero but then when we get older he was a cruel person?

In my opinion that makes me think on how many lies i have been thought trough out my life in school???

 Being a mom now I would like my kids to know the truth about Columbus early on, so when later in life or school they are presented by the truth about Columbus they don't argue or defend someone who was selfish and a lier but most important they know that he killed a lot of innocent Native American. If my kids one day come home glorifying Columbus, I think I would explained how Christopher Columbus was in reality; like the teacher from sixth Grade from the article that describe her pupils of how Columbus really was by using the example of Nikki's' purse, because it is simple, easy to understand in a creative way and truthful. i think being a teacher i would definitely used her strategy as well because reading i saw how students where engage and how they compared the points with Nikkis' purse and related to the story of Columbus.