|
|
Article: HISTORY IN DECAY.(teaching history in universities)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- July 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
THE IMMINENT DEATH of history in universities and schools has been heralded regularly over the last half-century. If not dead, it was said to be on its deathbed. But are we witnessing a protracted death, a prolonged illness, or a traumatic transfiguration? Certainly I am not writing an obituary. That would be premature. But a diagnosis of the sickness might suggest the chances of a partial remission.
The crisis in history can be distinguished at three levels -- in historiography, the writing of history; in the academic study of history in universities; and in the teaching of history in schools.
Clearly a historical tradition has died. Speaking at the May ...