Part II:

Painful Conflict in Labor History is Laundered by School Curricula

I searched Public School courses of study on line, and have found a plethora of facts, names and dates concerning union organization, but little detail about violence perpetrated at the hands of industrial barons, as well as local, state and Federal governments. Violence included was understated, and cautiously presented so as to avoid upsetting implications. It has evidently become politically incorrect (as in so many things) for our schools to teach a balanced view of union organization in the United States of America. Thus, students entering the Twenty-first Century work force do not have a thorough knowledge about the struggles that laborers in the past have endured in order to ensure the decent wages and conditions we enjoy today.

Conclusions

The following views are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of any other person, group of persons or organization. However, having stated the obvious, I would hope that Americans would demand that educators begin to teach toward a more thorough understanding of our history. Such a thorough understanding also implies affective/emotive content and the appreciation that teacher and students will all have individual positions concerning their reception of the facts to debate.

We in America enjoy freedom and our creature comforts because of the struggles of those who went before us. We must continue to earn our freedom and wealth, and we will do so only if we knowingly debate current labor issues. We must also fight to have local, state, and national governments that champion all the people, that is each individual person whenever possible, instead of the stereotyped and partitioned blocks of population our off-putting contemporary demographic oriented culture has led us to see. Additionally, those who own the corporations, and those at the top of corporate management must not be allowed to dominate the American and global economies at the expense of laborers. In actuality, the miracle of a truly global economy based on the American/Western industrial model can be achieved only if workers in all nations are organized in labor unions in order to achieve equitable remuneration for their efforts everywhere.

Stay tuned for Part III: The Current National Discussion About Illegal immigrant workers and the proposed legislation?


Sources

Wikkepedia. “United Mine Workers,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Mine_Workers. Modified 23:48, 15 March 2006. Viewed 10:48 EST, Tuesday, March 28, 2006.

The Social Studies Help Center. “The Labor Union Movement in America,” http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm. © 2001-2006. Viewed 10:51 EST, Tuesday, March 28, 2006.

The National Learning Curve. “Trade Unions,” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtu.htm. Viewed 9:44 AM EDT, Tuesday, April 4, 2006.

Labor Arts. “About Us,” http://www.laborarts.org/about/. ©, Labor Arts Inc. Viewed 10:13 AM EST, Friday March 31, 2006.

Montgomery County Public Schools (Montgomery, Maryland). “Social Studies: An Apprenticeship in Liberty.” http://mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/curriculum/ushist.html. © 2003. Viewed 10:18 AM, Friday, March 31, 2006.

Public Schools of North Carolina, Standard Courses of Study, Social Studies :: 2003:: Eleventh Grade Social Studies. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/socialstudies/scos/2003-04/067eleventhgrade. No copyright. Viewed 10:30 AM EST, Friday, March 31, 2006.