History is written by the victors. That's why the notion of Manifest Destiny has always been showcased as "winning the West." Anyone who opposed the fight — like the "pesky Indians" — generally has been cast as a villain.

But now the descendents of those victors are taking a second look. This school year the State Office of Education will expand the history curriculum of several Utah pilot schools to include a more sensitive look at American Indians. Money for the project comes from a $114,000 Daniels Fund grant. Kids in grades 4, 5, 7, 8 and 11 will receive materials about Wounded Knee, the Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre and other touchstones.

The program has several obvious benefits. Not only will school children see a more humane and sensitive side of other cultures, but American Indian students can take pride in the history of their ancestors.

The key, of course, is to get it all right.

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As with many re-evaluations of history, there will be a temptation to "balance the scales," to write revisionist history. That might entail seeing Utah's early Native Americans not as villains but as victims or "noble savages" — two stereotypes that are just as ugly. There may be a temptation to oversimplify the culture of Utah's five dominant tribes — Ute, Shoshone, Paiute, Navajo and Goshute. Therefore subtlety and accuracy should be watchwords.

The image of the bloodthirsty savage on the ballcaps of the Cleveland Indians baseball team is offensive. But the stoic image of the Indian on the famous Indian nickel also is misleading. As with all human history, the history of American Indians is a patchwork quilt of good and evil deeds, strong and weak characters, spiritual and material gains — in short, the tribes have been a breeding ground for every kind of human being found elsewhere in the world. Depicting them as such will be vital to not only understanding native cultures, but honestly appreciating them.

When writing history, Wallace Stegner once said, one doesn't need to have range and scope. The most important thing is to simply get things right.

We hope this new program will be a chance for teachers, students and historians to do just that. It is a forward-thinking plan. We commend those who generated it and those who will carry it out. We look forward to the added perspective the program will bring to the lives of Utah's students.

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