Lucia A. Post 10/29

During Monday’s class, we talked about culture and hegemony.The point of the discussion that drew me the
most was when we hit “the language of education.” Education is a complex system that has always interested me.

I have gone to school in 4 different countries, so I have experienced how different education is from nation to
nation. I did a mini-study of this for a class and focused on History. History, and we also talked about this in class,
is unfortunately often presented from the side of the victors. Everything is part of a master narrative. The civil war
in my country El Salvador, for instance, was the bloodiest war in Latin American history. As we learn in it in
school back home, the war was caused by the rise of guerrillas against the military but human rights were
crushed during the conflict. When the USA got involved, they trained and supplied the military to execute t
he biggest massacre in Latin American History.

When asking people what they had learned in American high school they all mentioned they were not aware of the
degree of American involvement in the war. According to most people I talked to, the United States saved Central
America. Many people that went to high school in the United States only learn the complexity of these issues when
coming into college. When I took a political science class, we discussed U.S. involvement in Central America and
many of my classmates were not aware of the complexity of the issue. This was really interesting because for us,
knowing this is a no-brainer. Despite this, every Latin America is supposed to know American History.

Experiences like these definitely show how Education is highly controlled by the leading power.
There is a recurring theme of portraying the USA as heroic when, like any other country, it has provoked both
negative and positive events.