Historians for the Lions
by Mary Pellegrino, CSJ -- LCWR Past President
Until the lions have their own historians,
tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
-- African Proverb (paraphrased)
If it weren’t for the crush I had on Mr. Caler, my shy, boyishly bookish high school history teacher who liked The Beatles equally as much as my friend, Jennifer, and I did, I don’t think that I would have paid much attention to things of the past. I certainly wouldn’t have learned to regard it in the way I do now. To ask questions. To consider sources.
And if it weren’t for the late Maria Harris with whom I had the opportunity to study years ago at Fordham University, I probably never would have heard of the “null curriculum” and the critical questions about inclusion and exclusion it raises. In short, the null curriculum asserts that subject matter, experience, and insights that are absent from an educational setting (or any setting for that matter) are just as important and formative as those that are present. Equally important is who and how those decisions of inclusion and exclusion are made.
Mr. Caler and Maria Harris taught me to notice things. To be curious. To consider what’s there and what’s not there, what’s being said and what’s not being said. They taught me that truth matters and history is important. And from there it was a short path to the realization that whoever tells the story controls history, and whoever controls history shapes the present and the future. Continue reading by downloading the newsletter below.
