I'm taking it as a course in college. I'm going to be majoring in political science so I thought I'd ask the question here. The text-book clearly believes that Democrats hold a pre-911 worldview (which is not true at all). It also says that we are the leader in bringing about Democracies to the world (and it doesn't say how the framers intended the USA to be in isolation from the Eastern Hemisphere). Given the fact that the text-book tries to shed light on current events... for those of you who have taken classes like American Government... how much of it should I trust? How much of it should I take seriously? I don't want to be brainwashed like the rest of the people in my class probably will be (by blindly believing everything the book says) but I still want to learn from the class. What should I do in this case?

I would read it for that particular point of view - then research topics of interest on your own from a variety of sources. There are certain fundamental points of interest you can draw from the book - facts that can't be biased because they are considered common knowledge (taken from a variety of first hand sources) . Like the old saying says "the devil is in the details" - but in this case it could be argued that the only way to find the truth is through the details.

The sheer fact that you are skeptical about the book gives you the power to analyze, and possibly discredit portions of the book. I personally wouldn't trust the book because it's obviously biased and pro American Government.

It's kind of like watching CNN to get a broad idea of the World News - then looking into each of those events on your own from news agencies around the world and ideally first hand accounts - to draw your own conclusion based on the bigger picture.

UHH NONE OF IT...

check out the book
"lies my teacher told me" by
jason loweman (not sure on the author name)

its a good one about education in the usa

You should take everything with a grain of salt.

It's going a bit too far to suggest that you should pay $10000 a year to dismiss everything you're taught.

You seem to have a critical mind, so you should be able distinguish fact from analysis or opinion.

In my graduate program, some professors couldn't keep from expounding on their political views at the expense of discussing the course content and that is a problem that seems to be widespread.

In those cases, it's just best to grin and bear it.

Sometimes textbook authors do twist the facts, but sometimes the facts just don't jibe with our personal experience.

Just as an example, women make less in the workplace than men, but when you control for education women make as much as men and more. Politicians and even textbooks sometimes ignore the latter.

When the facts don't seem to add up, look at the source data.

When you approach schooling in this way, you are really pursuing an education and not just a diploma.

[edit on 2008/9/7 by GradyPhilpott]