European Association of History Educators

Source: Technician; March 10th 2010

For those of you who follow the news or detest history classes, recent events regarding the instruction of history in elementary through high school may have caught your attention. And if you hated history classes, then you suddenly wish the news surrounding the reform of North Carolina’s history curriculum happened before you had to sit through those dry, boring lectures about the Federalists, Whigs and the Missouri Compromise.
It is the esteemed opinion of this columnist that the proposal, which would mandate education in history from 1877 on (or divide the curriculum into two classes, pre-1877 and post-1877), fits with the general atmosphere of the times.

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Source: My Fox, March 10th 2010

AUSTIN, TX - It's a battle of the books.  Who should be included in school history textbooks and who should be left out?  The latest battlefield is in Texas, where some noted people are being left out of the curriculum. U.S. history - what our children learn in school, depends on the history written in their textbooks.

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Source: Seacoast online; March 9th 2010

Dennis Robinson's article (March 1) on New Hampshire's black history was excellent. It's important to mark the progress that's been (and is being) made, bringing this vital topic into public awareness. My quibble: Dennis didn't mention the lack of such progress in most of our school curricula and textbooks — especially for those formative elementary years. As a visitor to schools in conjunction with my historical novels about New Hampshire's early African American history, I find little has changed since I went to grade school more than 50 years ago.

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Source: San Francisco Sentinel; March 9th 2010

The relative decline of American education at the elementary- and high-school levels has long been a national embarrassment as well as a threat to the nation’s future. Once upon a time, American students tested better than any other students in the world. Now, ranked against European schoolchildren, America does about as well as Lithuania, behind at least 10 other nations. Within the United States, the achievement gap between white students and poor and minority students stubbornly persists—and as the population of disadvantaged students grows, overall scores continue to sag.

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Source: My Fox; March 9th 2010

AUSTIN, TX - Student textbooks are making news and there's a heated debate underway after one school district is accused of trying to re-write history.It's a story you're going to be hearing about a lot more in the coming days from Texas. For much of the past year, the Texas State Board of Education has been discussing changes to the way the state teaches history - they basically plan to re-write social studies textbooks.

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Source: UKPA; March 9th 2010

Broadcaster David Dimbleby has criticised the lack of history teaching in schools.The 71-year-old's current BBC1 series The Seven Ages Of Britain takes viewers on a journey through the history of the country through its art and treasure. Dimbleby said the popularity of programmes delving into the nation's past suggests that people are hungry to know more because the school curriculum has failed to deliver on history.

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Source: My Fox; March 9th 2010

ATLANTA - The Texas Board of Education plan to change its social studies curriculum -- and changing its textbooks to reflect the new curriculum has some groups up in arms. According to one news report, some on the board "seem to have concluded that Texas' classrooms have been infected with a liberal bias." Thus, some want to include more conservative ideas in order to balance the standards.

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Source: The Globe and Mail; March 9th 2010

Canada's last First World War veteran, John Babcock, has died and as the ranks of Second World War veterans dwindle, there's an absence of living history that threatens to weaken our civic identity. So it is a shame that a hands-on, unique program that brings historical wartime records alive to a younger generation is slated to be replaced by a small selection of digital files.

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Source: Guardian; March 8th 2010

A two-tier curriculum is emerging in which a balanced education including the arts and humanities is becoming restricted to independent or more "upmarket" state schools. The proportion of pupils taking a modern foreign language at GCSE has fallen to a mere 44%. The figure for those taking either history or geography is barely 30%. ("Save our arts courses from university cuts, say academics", News). Many headteachers believe that pupils find it harder to gain good grades in "academic" subjects such as history and French than in vocational subjects.

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Source: History News Network; March 8th 2010

Communist Party chiefs led a procession of largely elderly people across Red Square on the 57th anniversary of Stalin's death, laying flowers at his grave by the Kremlin wall.The solemn visit is an annual tradition for communists steeped in nostalgia for the Soviet era. But this year, it comes as Russia's bitter debate over Stalin's legacy sharpens ahead of May 9 celebrations marking 65 years since the Nazi defeat.

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