Efforts by Departments of Education to Make Good Citizens: Examples from High School World History State Syllabi

This paper examines the contents of world history syllabi from the state department of education in New York and in Texas.  These publications are currently employed as secondary teacher guidelines, and they are designed to provide the historical content that will show up on standardized tests required for graduation from high school.  Teacher autonomy over what to put in their lessons has all but disappeared in the public schools of most states, a trend resulting from attempts to ensure that every child’s educational progress is measured by the same set of standards.            An examination of selected historical topics and periods by a historian who has had extensive experience teaching European history, world history, and western civilization reveals a tendency on the part of state test-makers to emphasize historical interpretations and perspectives that relate to helping the student become a good citizen.  Often these syllabi, despite recent goals of considering multiple perspectives when analyzing the past, either omit points of view that run counter to the dominant narrative or take into consideration only the historiographical conclusions that fit into a civics frame.  Thus, not only is high school teacher autonomy downplayed, but the findings of professional historians are also left out when they diverge from the citizenship theme.  Concerns about instilling spirits of inquiry, reflective evaluation, and independent judgment among our teenagers emerge when taking into consideration syllabi that stuff the school year with detailed factual content and that readily mix teleology and presentism[1] for the supposed benefit of youngsters preparing to enter society as responsible citizens.            An exploration of the extent to which textbooks currently under adoption correlate with the state syllabi studied will also be included.

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[1] See Lynn Hunt, “Against Presentism,” AHA Perspectives, May 2002.

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