You guys do know what happens when people forget (or never learn) their history!!??
If you never learn your history, you can never learn from your history.
My country, Ireland, has a colorful, sad, tragic history of occupation, revolution. Struggling violently and non-violently for freedom from the once all-powerful Empire (you know which one). Over and over and over. Our teachers in Ireland generally avoided the subject all through high school because it was always such a volatile subject. Some people supported violent protest and many others did not. It was only when I read and studied our history, my country's history myself and informed myself that I fully understood the implications that our history has for our present realities.
In Irish schools as I grew up, I was often confused as to which stories and characters were real people and which were characters from Irish folklore. A confusing mix of reality and fantasy created a blurred view of history for me and for many others. Critical thinking is what can break through that confusion. Inspiring kids to think for themselves will help them break through the confusion.
Once in the US, I wanted to learn all about US history. In college, I wanted to understand how the past has impacted the present for every American, every color, every religion, etc., everyone. I firmly believe that we must understand our history to some degree (just the basic honest facts at least) without bias, without favoritism, without preconceived ideas or beliefs..."Just the Facts" if a country is to move forward in a healthy way. Facts are facts and "Truth" is not relative....if shit happened then shit happened and facts are not up for debate, reality is reality. This is what history should be, just facts and the honest depiction of what happened and how it happened as well as the consequences arising from historical actions.
In Europe, the blood-related royal families were constantly at war...basically (royal) family squabbles formed the roots of revolutions, wars, murder, and mayhem and ultimately two world wars. The roots of WW2 lie in the Armistice which ended WW1. Attempts to rebuild long-lost empires always result in disaster as is reflected in current world affairs.
So definitely don't whitewash history...any history, it can only help your kids.
Just a few thoughts from a transplanted Irishman. The US has its faults, like most places, but I love most things about this wonderful country and the wonderful mixture of people who I've met and known here. Knowing history is always productive if its lessons are learned.