In your own words, how does too much emphasis on American exceptionalism hinder our understanding of American history?
Sounds like the teacher has already made up his/her mind that American exceptionalism has hindered our understanding of American history.
I told me daughter to say that we don't have enough emphasis on American exceptionalism.
The schools, K through post graduate I assume, need to be ridden of all these liberal Marxists.
American exceptionalism was actually coined by the communists. It wasn’t even some rah rah American thing, that’s just how they are now rewriting it. It was actually because the communists claimed that it was a scientific economic fact that capitalism would fail and give rise to communism, and when people pointed to the prosperity of the working people under capitalism in America, the communists said America was just the exception to their economic rule.
Commies also coined the term capitalism. We took it and wore it like a badge of honor. Just like when HRC call us deplorables... badge of honor. Let's own it.
Loaded question fallacy - “When did you stop beating your wife?”
Came here to say exactly this.
She should answer...
"By blindly believing the claim that America is an exceptional country, you lose the opportunity to look for and learn about all of the truly exceptional aspects of the American story.
It's like the difference between hearing someone say 'Jesus is my Lord and Savior' and having a deep personal relationship with the Creator of Existence."
And then watch the epic communist meltdown.
Answer: Our American history is by definition American exceptionalism. No other nation fought and lost so much to gain so much more, eventually becoming a beacon of light for the entire world. It was not perfect and it was not easy, but it moved, not just our nation forward, but our entire civilization, species and planet. Looking at this any other way is call revisionist history, not American history.
My answer: When we believe too much in “American Exceptionalism” we will believe America is special and untouchable, therefore unable to fail. Rather than being able to step back and learn from all the other empires and influential cultures that have fallen by the exact same playbook or similar, we will ignore the warnings that our founders warned us about, and innocently undo the safeguards they set up to protect us. We will take liberty for granted, and fail to protect it. We will let division turn us against each other, forgetting the reasons we should stand united, as we let manipulators twist our understanding of our history. That can continue little by little until we become a nation exactly opposite of everything we once believed, and eventually be no more.
By diminishing the CRT narrative.
My essay: It doesn't, and then my justifications for that stand. I'd probably get a failing grade, but if one doesn't stand up for something, one stands for nothing at all.
Absolutely agree — my kids went through public Texas small ISD and I was on school board for the oldest— learned a lot about Texas ISD and had some control— every parent needs to be involved— but superintendent and faculty also need to know school board hires and fires - if you let crazy people be elected to your school board— you get what you deserve//
Btw means I had to actually file and run for a public office— won and actually had to attend workshops and school board meetings and contribute to the functioning of the school district—- lazy ass people shouldn’t apply— and that’s why we are here— young people can bitch all they want and blame us but it’s all on you now cause we’ve done our part and we’ll probably not live to see the end of the movie
I'm flashing back to college and imagining the teacher wants an answer along the lines of glorification of America's strengths can inspire blindness to its faults, gimme an hour and a laptop and I'll give you five pages double-spaced.
Too much is an objective expression and I request definition of the term.
Marxists hate liberals.
I guess I should have been more specific. By liberals I meant the new form of liberals, the ones who support paying people not to work, the "occupy" people, antifa, blm, etc. I think Marx would support those groups as, I think, he was against capitalism and thought the only value someone could provide was from their labor.
Too much emphasis on American exceptionalism may gloss over the constant resolve our country needs in order to be the bastion of freedom that it is today, like the constant need to root out communism from all forms of academia.
It doesn’t
My own words would be short, "it hasn't"
We do need to get rid of them
However, can you recall a time in your life you heard communist bullshit and didn't call them out?
Yes, you can. And that's why things are where they are. We didn't shut them up, now those of us who aren't obese are going to be forced into conflict with them within 10 years.
The communist revolution isn't being stopped.
I had that same question in history a few years back. 😂😂
I feel like this is easy to explain.
Answer the following question:
“In your own words, how would communism respond to the current healthcare crisis?”
That question is not telling you to be a communist. It’s asking you to demonstrate you understand communism well enough to explain a problem from their perspective. It’s not asking you to embrace their perspective or assuming that you do.
-Aristotle, quoted more than once here on GAW.
The point of this question was asking her to understand a perspective. American exceptionalism absolutely exists. Whether it’s widespread or inappropriate or undesireable can be debated, but many American citizens undeniably think America is a special place in the world and in history compared to everywhere else.
The question asked her to consider what things might be missed by someone with a certain perspective. Could problems with America be downplayed by someone who believes America is exceptional?
Absolutely. How?
If you can’t understand the perspective of another person, then you’re at a disadvantage. Always. You don’t have to agree with the perspective. You can be repulsed by the perspective. But the mark of intelligence is being able to predict the logic and argument from other perspective. Honestly. Fairly. Even if you hate them and think they’re wrong.
Now, what if the teachings are one sided and only the problems are what is being taught? Wouldn’t your argument work both ways? If she took the stance to honestly, fairly, and evenly present a logical perspective believing America is exceptional would that make her wrong? I have two boys in college and saw first hand the regurgitation the professors wanted. One was an advanced poli sci class where anti Semitic chapter was a picture of trump with his hand up, chapter title Heil trump. The other was an intro to composition with papers on topics like immigration, transgender, and race. It was obvious they only wanted regurgitation, not critical thinking or writing. Seeing both sides is a sign of intelligence. Not being able to critically think or present a difference of opinion is not teaching. It’s indoctrinating.
The "Aristotle" quote that wouldn't die. 😵
It's fake news. It never appears in Nicomachean Ethics.
You’re correct. Good catch.
American Exceptionalism is the reason we can sit in the best universities in the world and question the history of American Exceptionalism.
That's how I would answer it.