Should History Tour Guides Be Censored?
Wednesday July 8, 2009
A new law in Philadelphia requires historical tour guides to take a test before they give their first tour. The law was created to stop gross inaccuracies from being perpetuated during tours, such as Benjamin Franklin having 69 illegitimate children and that Betsy Ross murdered her three husbands. Three tour guides, citing free speech concerns, have filed a lawsuit against the city regarding this test. This AP article has more of their story.
Should historical tour guides be required to take a test? Can they say whatever they think is true of history? What do you think?
Comments
Of course historical site guides should have to take a test on the material they are paid (or have volunteered) to present! The point of having guides or docents at such sites is to help visitors learn history, not to hear someone’s unsupported opinion.
Any and all guides should be tested on a regular biases to make sure that they are giving out actuate information, lets face it, you have a lot of travelers from the U.S.A. and out of this country that will take what they at face value.
Yes tour guides need to give factual information about their piece of history. Looking at Todays history book you find a lot of subjective changes to be PC. Stop this.
When did “freedom of speech” become a defense for the perpetuation of ignorance? There’s a great deal of difference between censorship and insistence on historical accuracy. As a teacher, I find it troublesome that a site like this confuses the two. Suppose in your writings you represented Margaret Thatcher as the British prime minister that led England through WWII. Of course not! To call the expectation of accuracy “censorship” is absurd. The only issue here is consumers’ right. Tourists pay a guide for services. They have a right to expect accurate information about the monuments they visit. In any transaction, I expect to get what I pay for. Wouldn’t you?
You bet they should be tested. But, what do you expect from these people today? If history is even taught today in schools, it is revisionist history. So, you will get revisionist tour guides. Kids are told that our forefathers were all mean, evil, greedy, mendaciously self-centered people. In fact, they aren’t even taught today that all the original colonies were Christian…no no no.
A few years ago, I visited the RAF museum at Herndon, UK. In the WWII, Battle of Britain hall, they had a young guide, who made so many mistakes that I got quite upset. One of the employees at the museum, a mechanic working at a JU87, heard him talk about that plane and called the director and had him replaced during the tour. Not only was he an ignoramus, bur he even shrugged some of my eertinent questions.
Tour guides should be tested before they begin their duties, and every six months thereafter so that they keep up to date.
I agree with Belgian Sailor. When one has a once in a lifetime chance to see a magnificent historical site one needs to get some facts. When he/she knows more than the guide the traveller might wonder if it were worthwhile visiting!
Yes of course!!! In old days they were all of them historians.
Jen, imagine yourself going to visit D-Day beaches in Normandy and some retards pretending they are guides telling you a nice story about Omaha Beach “googled” one night ago…
I would think that a self-respecting historical interpreter, guide, docent, volunteer would be glad to be tested on his/her knowledge and fill in the gaps, or argue with the examiner: citing sources of course.
It’s also a shame that not only North Americans but even the British guides aren’t studying their own history. It’s not that the information isn’t available. Secondary sources are as close as the local public library.
We can argue about who ‘won’ the War of 1812 by what criteria, and how the war has coloured Canadian – U.S. relations (It makes for good discussion, but takes up time of the tour.) but we can’t argue that the war happened, that one lost a battle for doing this or another won for doing that. There are facts and their are opinions – but you better have your opinions based on facts.
“Historical Tours” guides should definitely be qualified on their particular tour itinerary history of the locality, historical figure or edifice on which they comment.History cannot and should nort be distorted otherwise it becomes “Fiction”.Normally, the average tour guide does have the major facts right on any subject they comment on since their tourists wouldn’t be utter illiterates if facts are totally distorted.
What’s with the air in Washington? Everyone there wants to LIE and have it accepted as the truth? I think we need to move our capitol away from the heavy odor of bovine scatology that pollutes the air, and causes chaotic thinking.
Being an historical tour guide is a HUGE responsability. I agree with the idea that the tour guide be tested or at the very least carry an approved statistic manual that they can consult to accurately answer questions from the crowd.
Yes, absolutely the tour guides should be tested; as a matter of fact, the Park Service volunteers at Independence Hall must go through a rigorous training program and then demonstrate their knowledge to Park Service officials before they can give a tour. The ‘guides’ who are protesting are those on the horse carriage rides and on the infamous ‘Duck’ bus rides. They are terrible. This is not an issue of censorship, they are offering a service pertaining to the history of our country. They have no protected right to play fast and loose with the truth.