On the Sources of Inspiration and Their Price: History for Schools, for Academia and for the Public

Project Innovation, Inc. P.O. Box 8508 Spring Hill Station, Mobile, AL 36689-0508. Tel: 251-343-1878; Fax: 251-343-1878; Web site: http://www.projectinnovation.biz/education.html

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History Instruction; Educational History; Social Studies; Student Motivation; Student Interests; Teaching Methods; United States History

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History teaching in schools has long been in a state of deep crisis. Students do not like history nor do they know it. This dismal state of history teaching has required the attention of experts in the realm of school history instruction and curricula design who have made a large number of proposals to improve its standing in schools. These have a wide common denominator: They usually revolve around the idea of closing the gap between school history and academic history, in general, and specifically, they stress the centrality of primary sources in the work in the classroom. This article maintains that the view of academic history as a source of inspiration for school history encumbers it. The article proposes widening the angle of vision and the sources of inspiration and looking towards history outside of the academia, towards public history, when searching for directions which may rescue history from its crisis in schools. The article suggests that one of the directions could be the use of historical stories, "tribal stories", (public history is full of them) that might give history the magic it has lost for students.

As Provided

60

2014

EJ1033560