Well, that's interesting. That wasn't in my textbooks. It certainly makes Locke seem a bit more human. BTW, I've had a bee in my bonnet for years over examples like this. So much stuff is edited out from what we are taught. Sure, this is trite and somewhat useless example but so often this is not the case. Another example is documentary footage: almost daily, one sees a tiny snippet of a scene cut of some important n…
Much of history is taught on the Great Man Theory, which focuses on individuals doing important things. Their humanity, as well as the contribution of anybody else, is ignored in favor of a simpler narrative of history as a series of great events.
Historians are increasingly looking at history as a fuller story, but that hasn't really trickled down to schools yet. It might engage students more, but it is harder to quiz and isn't seen as inspiring patriotism.