[DOWNLOAD] "Historical Truth and Film: Inherit the Wind As an Appraisal of the American Teacher (Chapter 4) (Critical Essay)" by American Education History Journal # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Historical Truth and Film: Inherit the Wind As an Appraisal of the American Teacher (Chapter 4) (Critical Essay)
- Author : American Education History Journal
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 208 KB
Description
Evolution as a theory about the origins of man has been a curricular thorn in the side of American education throughout the twentieth century. What should have been settled in 1925 in a Dayton, Tennessee courtroom, has experienced many lives over the decades since the infamous Scopes Trial. As late as the 1990s, school districts far and wide have mandated the placement of disclaimers in the front of biology textbooks warning readers that evolution was only a theory, not fact, while others sought to pass legislation mandating intelligent design as a required part of the biology curriculum. The Darwin versus God debate continues on. Yet nowhere was the battle for followers more hotly contested than on the Hollywood set of Inherit the Wind some fifty years ago. Under the scorching summer sun in 1925, journalists, lawyers, townspeople, and outside observers, descended upon the town of Dayton, Tennessee, in anticipation of the great ideological contest about to take place. To the untrained eye and ear, the struggle centered on the right of Tennessee teachers to teach evolution versus defiance of a law that stated otherwise. The lines seemed clear: 1) those who believed that John Scopes had broken the public trust by breaking the law when he taught evolution in his science class, or, 2) those who believed that Scopes had acted as a responsible teacher and professional when he chose to challenge his students with the latest scientific theory. Both views are only partially correct. However, the way in which teachers, teaching, and education are portrayed in popular film in general, and in the film Inherit the Wind, which depicted the Scopes Trial, in particular, is a more compelling issue than simply choosing this side or that, because the movie as an informal agency of teaching and learning often represents historical truth to the viewer. As educators, we cannot ignore the power of film in the dissemination ideas. Certainly, we should not ignore its power in shaping our perceptions and beliefs about the historical past, including our educational past.