How important is it that violent, regretful events in America's history are taught in American schools? Is what the author says about school children not getting the full story of the past still true today in some cases?

Look at the painting the lictors bring to brutus the bodies of his sons by jacques-louis david (1789). the most likely message this painting sends to french citizens is that one must be prepared to sacrifice their own children to preserve france. loyalty to one’s country stops short of sacrificing one’s own children. brutality is an integral part of revolution and the reign of terror. no one is immune to death, not even the leaders of the revolution.