Setting standards for history in the schools requires a clear vision of
the place and importance of history in the general education of all students.
The widespread and growing support for more and better history in the schools,
beginning in the early grades of elementary education, is one of the more
encouraging signs of the decade. The reasons are many, but none are more
important to a democratic society than this: knowledge of history is the
precondition of political intelligence. Without history, a society shares
no common memory of where it has been, what its core values are, or what
decisions of the past account for present circumstances. Without history,
we cannot undertake any sensible inquiry into the political, social, or
moral issues in society. And without historical knowledge and inquiry,
we cannot achieve the informed, discriminating citizenship essential to
effective participation in the democratic processes of governance and the
fulfillment for all our citizens of the nation’s democratic ideals.
Thomas Jefferson long ago prescribed history for all who would take part
in self-government because it would enable them to prepare for things yet
to come. The philosopher Etienne Gilson noted the special significance
of the perspectives history affords. “History,” he remarked, “is the only
laboratory we have in which to test the consequences of thought.” History
opens to students the great record of human experience, revealing the vast
range of accommodations individuals and societies have made to the problems
confronting them, and disclosing the consequences that have followed the
various choices that have been made. By studying the choices and decisions
of the past, students can confront today’s problems and choices with a
deeper awareness of the alternatives before them and the likely consequences
of each.
Current problems, of course, do not duplicate those of the past. Essential
to extrapolating knowledgeably from history to the issues of today requires
yet a further skill, again dependent upon one’s understanding of the past:
differentiating between (1) relevant historical antecedents that properly
inform analyses of current issues and (2) those antecedents that are clearly
irrelevant. Students must be sufficiently grounded in historical understanding
in order to bring sound historical analysis to the service of informed
decision making.
What is required is mastery of what Nietzsche once termed “critical history”
and what Gordon Craig has explained as the “ability, after painful inquiry
and sober judgment, to determine what part of history [is] relevant to
one’s current problems and what [is] not,” whether one is assessing a situation,
forming an opinion, or taking an active position on the issue. In exploring
these matters, students will soon discover that history is filled with
the high costs of decisions reached on the basis of false analogies from
the past as well as the high costs of actions taken with little or no understanding
of the important lessons the past imparts.
These learnings directly contribute to the education of the public citizen,
but they uniquely contribute to nurturing the private individual as well.
Historical memory is the key to self-identity, to seeing one’s place in
the stream of time, and one’s connectedness with all of humankind. We are
part of an ancient chain, and the long hand of the past is upon us-for
good and for ill-just as our hands will rest on our descendants for years
to come. Denied knowledge of one’s roots and of one’s place in the great
stream of human history, the individual is deprived of the fullest sense
of self and of that sense of shared community on which one’s fullest personal
development as well as responsible citizenship depends. For these purposes,
history and the humanities must occupy an indispensable role in the school
curriculum.
Finally, history opens to students opportunities to develop a comprehensive
understanding of the world, and of the many cultures and ways of life different
from their own. From a balanced and inclusive world history students may
gain an appreciation both of the world’s many peoples and of their shared
humanity and common problems. Students may also acquire the habit of seeing
matters through others’ eyes and come to realize that they can better understand
themselves as they study others, as well as the other way around. Historical
understanding based on such comparative studies in world history does not
require approval or forgiveness for the tragedies either of one’s own society
or of others; nor does it negate the importance of critically examining
alternative value systems and their effects in supporting or denying the
basic human rights and aspirations of all their peoples. Especially important,
an understanding of the history of the world’s many cultures can contribute
to fostering the kind of mutual patience, respect, and civic courage required
in our increasingly pluralistic society and our increasingly interdependent
world.
If students are to see ahead more clearly, and be ready to act with judgment
and with respect for the shared humanity of all who will be touched by
the decisions they as citizens make, support, or simply acquiesce in, then
schools must attend to this critical field of the curriculum.
|
