History Education in Public Schools

History Education in Public Schools
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History Education in Public Schools
The teaching history education method in public schools is quite debatable and has shifted over the years. Most people think that incorporating the history subject in public schools' curriculum intends to instill students' pride in the country. These people believe that the curriculum includes history teaching practices that only favor that mission; hence, they only provided students with information that favored the country's appearance in the students' eyes. However, that means, and purpose of teaching history existed in the 1960s (Haydn, 2012) and was replaced by a new means of teaching history. The new teaching history in public schools entails covering all aspects of history so that the lessons are neutral, leaving them to deduce their understanding of the country's achievements. Due to the current ease of retrieving information, history education in public schools should majorly aim to be neutral and matter-of-fact. The benefits of having history education's main aim as neutral are that students enjoy the lesson and gain a better self-understanding. On the other hand, schools may lose the chance of creating excellent citizenship and developing patriotism from a tender age.
The history that aims to instill pride in the country is tedious (Haydn, 2012) and leads to fewer students taking it up in their further studies; hence, history as a subject in public schools should be neutral, covering all aspects, whether negative or positive. Teaching history to influence students to love their country involves teaching only positive history. Positive history makes up a small percentage of history and leaves the students with little background information. The research revealed that most students thought of history from the 1960 and '70s as "useless and boring" as compared to history taught in the twenty-first century, which they said was "interesting and useful" (Haydn, 2012). History from the 60's aimed at creating nationalism; hence, it focused on the positive aspects. In the twenty-first century, students learned both aspects of history, the negative and positive (Haydn, 2012). Teaching history with a neutral perspective and aim ensures the subject covers all aspects and students gain more interest in the subject; therefore, history education in public schools must have a neutral aim.
Teaching history in public schools should be with a neutral goal because using history to promote social bonding does not prove effective, and it is out fashioned (Haydn, 2012). History lessons to promote the country's pride in students were a practice of ancient times. In the current era, learners have access to numerous materials to retrieve information; therefore, they do not only gain influence from what they study in class. Terry, in his study, claims that the ancient practice of only including positive history material to create an excellent social bonding amongst students is outlived. He also mentions that teaching only positive history has restricted significance in students' lives (Haydn, 2012). This method of incorporating history in the curriculum limits the information available to students and hinders them from gaining the maximum from the subject. Students will have little information that they will use as the basis for their history, which is similar to them being misinformed; therefore, the best teaching method is with a fair aim.
Students gain different perspectives, a self-understanding of individuality and values from history education taught with a neutral purpose (Carl, 2008). As earlier mentioned, when instructors teach history to inform...