I Know, It's Only Historical Debate,But I Like It

History is the world’s first social science. As such, it exemplifies this academic area’s ambiguity,open -endedness, and dual nature. Like the hard sciences, history relies on meticulous research, empirical evidence (usually in the form of primary sources), and no small amount of focus and concentration on a given topic. But history, also relies upon several disciplines that are crucial to the arts. Historians must be able to creatively interpret data, empathize with their subjects, and at specific times, make intuitive leaps. One must not forget that many of the original thinkers behind the Post-Modern movement within the arts were historians. In many ways this duality exemplifies(at least in spirit) Cornell West’s statement that as historians “we have got to keep two ideas in our minds at the same time. The achievements as well as the downfalls. The grand contributions and the vicious crimes.” (Reprinted in Levstik and Barton, 1998)
Frans Doppen’s article Teaching and Learning Multiple Perspectives: The Atomic Bomb, exemplifies the letter of West’s original statement, which is concerned with the teaching of history. West argues we must acknowledge one of the Enlightenment’s most significant contributions to global civilization, the idea and ideal that humanity is a race of equals. In doing so however, we must also acknowledge the Western World’s role in the countless instances of imperialism, genocide, and subjection that Europe and North America has enacted over the centuries. When reading Doppen’s essay through this lens, we can see a clear, thoughtful and intelligent response to this pedagogical imperative that should drive the teaching of history.
Doppen’s study shows that students must be allowed to approach history through a multiple perspectives, and insists that the field should no longer be written by just the victors. Doppen chronicles how a unit that focused on the Atomic Bomb was taught to a group of high school children. The lessons were designed around the reading of primary and secondary source documents culled from both the Allies and the Japanese. The students were encouraged, but not guided to make their own decisions on these sources. They were also asked to create a “museum display” that focused on the events in question. By doing so the students gained an empathy for both sides, and were able to do something crucial in the field of history; they were empowered to the point were they were able to take ownership of the facts.
Melinda Fine’s article, “You Can’t Just Say The the Only Ones Who Can Speak Are Those Who Agree with Your Position”: Political Discourse in the Classroom illustrates how no matter how fine ideals seem on paper, they still depend on mere, flawed, mortals for their transmission. Fine observes how the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum was enacted in a particular classroom in Cambridge, MA. Although Fine is generally supports and is enthusiastic with this particular curriculum’s methods and execution within this classroom, she also brings up a the fact that the teacher in this study also actively suppressed the views, and more importantly the conclusions that her students made that did not fit within her own value system. Granted, the students views were controversial to say the least, including the speculation on the validity of the Global Jewish Conspiracy theory and calling Israel to task on the abuses it perpetuated upon the Palestinians; the conclusions that these children made definitely raise a whole slew of questions that this blog has neither the space nor the time, nor the teaching experience to answer, but Fine shows that the teacher made these opinions into straw men, and allowed herself, and her students who held a more conventional view of history to knock them down. In short, Fine shows that although it is easy to pay lip service to the ideals of open discourse and student ownership of information, and that history is indeed a subject that is comprised of multiple perspectives, it is much harder to actually implement those ideas in the classroom.