Chapter 10: Commentary: Identity Construction and the Goals of History Education

A pioneering writer on the topics covered in this book, the French historian M. Ferro (1981) affirmed in his work How the Past is Taught to Children that:

We have discussed Ferro’s assertion a number of times in recent years, and we must confess that we have occasionally thought it, if not wrong, at least exaggerated. However, thirty years after the publication of the original work, which is seminal in the field, his statement seems more accurate than ever. The history taught in most countries (Carretero, 2011; Foster & Crawford, 2006; Symcox & Wilschut, 2009) is composed of versions of the past that in addition to giving historiographic meaning to the study of causal temporal relationships, also amplify the nation-state’s official voice—oftenits only voice. Similar to how our minds are influenced by fairy tales—as Bettelheim described some time ago in another seminal book (2005) the historical accounts learned in school have a decisive influence on our view of the past, present, and future.