Book report; schlesinger, The Distinguishing of America Term Paper

Book report; schlesinger, The Distinguishing of America - Term Paper Example he thesis that the emphasis on ethnic awareness, especially among public school, is a mistake; that instead of students studying the history that will unite America, they would be studying the history of his or her ethnic origin that is not even a historical fact. According to him, â€Å"the purpose of history is to promote not group self-esteem, but understanding of the world and the past, dispassionate analysis, judgment, and perspective, respect for divergent cultures and traditions, and unflinching protection for those unifying ideas of tolerance, democracy, and human rights that make free historical inquiry possible† (Schlesinger 104). In pushing for his thesis, Schlesinger argued that it is really not beneficial for Afro-Americans to study the history of an ethnic group or country which they have no cultural ties. He used the example of W.E.B. Du Bois to illustrate the detachment of the present generation of Afro-Americans to Africa as saying that â€Å"neither my father nor my father’s father ever saw Africa, or knew its meaning or cared overmuch for it† (Schlesinger 88). Even quoting the great Afro-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King as â€Å"we know nothing of Africa† (Schlesinger 89). In Schlesinger assertion, this can even lead to a distorted sense of history and cultural crisis as students would tend to study the essays written by the likes of Afrocentric writers such as Asa Hilliard and John Henrik Clarke, whose assertion that Africa is the â€Å"mother of Western civilization† has no historical basis, that is grounded more on fiction than documented fact. While it is agreeable that it is very important to study the history and the traditional canon of one’s country of birth (America), the tragedies that molded it, or the nuances of its cultural orientation, the assertion of Schlesinger that extending the historical study to other ethnic roots could distort one’s cultural image or sense of history is rather simplistic. It