Life in an American Fourth Grade: America Consists of Illegal Settlements!

By Barry Rubin

Today the kids were writing a paragraph on the coming of the settlers to North America. One girl said: The Europeans were not nice. A second added: The Europeans just came to America and said it’s our land and started killing Indians. Of course, they are just repeating the relentless indoctrination they have received almost every day for the last six months.

Since they haven’t been taught about the early colonists’ desire for liberty, democracy, religious freedom, a chance to own their own land, and an opportunity to build a better society, among other things, why shouldn’t they think of those Pilgrim Puritans and Virginian pioneers as rapacious imperialist plunderers?

I want to emphasize that we are not talking about a balanced approach, presenting the good with the bad, but an all-bad approach.

The irony is that both girls are from South America and are descended from European settlers who treated the Native Americans there far worse than was done in North America.

Since I have to spend a lot of time dealing with those in the West who deny that Israel has a right to exist, it is startling to realize that these people’s children are being taught that their own nations are equally illegitimate!