Hearken back to junior high and high school for a moment. What “historical documents” were you taught in social studies and American history classes? The U.S. Constitution? Your state’s constitution? What about the Declaration of Independence or the Federalist Papers? The Northwest Ordinance (especially if you grew up in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota)?
My entire K-12 education was in Ohio public schools. When it came to history, I didn’t take any electives or special courses beyond whatever was required for me to earn a diploma. Yet, I was taught all of these important historical texts, multiple times, from seventh grade through twelfth. So I was surprised to see a bill moving through the Ohio legislature that would require schools to teach what I thought were standard fare for Ohio’s students. In fact, at first blush it seemed implausible to me that many schools weren’t already doing so.
My husband, also an Ohio public school alum (from a quote-unquote better district than I attended), had a different reaction when I told him about the legislation. He guessed at leas
Pupils are often required to choose between history and geography at GCSE level, it was disclosed.
In a speech to a conference staged by Cambridge Assessment, the exam board, he called for history to remain as a compulsory subject throughout secondary school.
A broad baccalaureate of important disciplines, including history, should be taken by all students to the age of 16, he said.
“I argue for history but I don’t argue against other subjects,” he said. “Why should they be in competition with each other? How crazy is that?
“Pupils choose for trivial reasons; they like the teacher this year, they don’t want to get that teacher next year and they hear from their elder siblings that it was too hard and another subject was easier. All sorts of trivial reasons – nothing whatever to do with the intrinsic worth of the subject.
“They are too young to make those decisions and, above all, the consequences of those decisions last for years.”
Dr Lang, who leads the Better History campaign group, added: “Why does this system not get challenged? Well, we are challe