Top-Down v. Bottom-Up History
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Top-Down v. Bottom-Up History
Another difficulty faced by history teachers is the struggle to teach the subject from a bottom-up rather than top-down approach. Too often textbooks are just litanies of “big men” with “big ideas” that are portrayed as the only movers and shakers throughout history. The Industrial Revolution provides somewhat of a mixed record of this with textbooks stressing the Tulls, Arkwrights, Watts, etc. while still giving attention to the lives of the common working people. This is clearly unavoidable as history is mixture of both; in some cases the big men lead and the little people follow, while in other times the little people demand change from the big men. Emphasizing the lives of miners, spinners, and families can provide a real hook to help students understand the problems created by industrialization while also helping them to see that ordinary people have had and continue to have an important role in shaping history. Also, telling one extremely powerful story will always be more powerful than all of the statistics and charts in the world.