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The Purpose of Education (2)
21 CommentsMax Hastings, the historian, offers a quite inspired defence of traditional British schooling in the Guardian. A sceptic of multiculturalism, he criticises the attempted ‘distortion of the western experience’ by attempting to give an equal role to societies and peoples who have not shaped the past 500 years of history. As he says,
…the world’s development in the past 500 years has been dominated, for good or ill, by what westerners have thought and done. Other societies, again no matter whether for good or ill, have been losers whose power to determine their own destinies, never mind anyone else’s, has been small.
I am all for integrating studies of women’s history, black history, etc. within the teaching of History (and other subjects) but I think there can be a danger of distortion. Comparing Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale’s relative contribution to 19th century medicine is fine, for example, but throwing in a couple of examples of minority groups in your teaching for ‘balance’ is hardly the right way to go about it. Multiculturalism should be about celebrating the best aspects of each culture within a nation, not needlessly asserting that everyone is equal whilst attempting to use the curriculum (and distorted examples from the past) to ‘prove’ this.
Hastings goes on to bemoan the increasing focus of education as a means to an end, rather than as an end in itself:
British education is increasingly perceived as a utilitarian process: all disciplines seeking to rouse the enthusiasm of pupils as if they were fugitive birds, to be tempted out of trees with nuts. The logical outcome of this policy is that children will eventually learn only how to handle computers, change the wheels of cars and submit applications for credit cards.
This echoes what I mentioned in an earlier post about the difference between education and training. It is not important that absolutely everything pupils learn is directly related to their future life or allows them to learn some ’skill’. Education, as Hastings asserts, is ‘about learning to think’ and also about developing a sense of identity whilst understanding one’s place in the grand scheme of things.
I think an update of the Chinese fishing proverb is needed:
Train a child and he will learn how to perform a specific task; educate a child and he can approach tasks by himself.
Published on December 29, 2005 · Filed under: Uncategorized;
21 Responses to “The Purpose of Education (2)”
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I’ve not read the article (will do now!), but from your reading of it it looks like Max Hastings setting up a multicultural “aunt sally” here.
Who said that multiculturalism was all about giving different cultures “equal roles” in our history? Of course it’s daft to pretend that the dominant culture in England hasn’t been a white, protestant one.
I would have said that multiculturalism in history is about (amongst other things) having respect for and awareness of each culture that has contributed to our history.
With that might come a realisation that, for instance, although a white protestant culture might have been dominant in recent British history, many other cultures have contributed, and indeed altered that culture and affected its dominance.
The extent and quality of these contributions and alterations might indeed cause us to question what this “dominance” might mean and to recognise the fractures and fissures in history that make it so much more interesting than a teleological “national story”.
Whaddya think?
Ed.
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All I’m saying, Ed, is that whilst it’s the right thing to do to celebrate diversity and look for the ‘fractures and fissures’ of history, it’s NOT helpful to try to make sure each ethnic group is mentioned at each juncture simply for the sake of political correctness!
Unfortunately, multiculturalism and political correctness go hand-in-hand in our society…
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it’s NOT helpful to try to make sure each ethnic group is mentioned at each juncture simply for the sake of political correctness!
I agree, but I don’t think anyone actually does this, or is suggesting that this should happen.
Unfortunately, multiculturalism and political correctness go hand-in-hand in our society…
Couldn’t agree less Doug. Political Correctness is a bogeyman, a spectre, a distraction raised by the right to stop people thinking about the labels that they use. Of course there are the odd horror stories about the banning of “black sacks” and the stupid imposition of “winterval” type terminology, but much of the damage caused by labelling and bias in society is at the disadvantage of minorities, and acts as a way of bolstering dominant ideologies.
In fact, not that I’m generally a big fan of conspiracy theories, the spectre of political correctness is raised precisely by those people and institutions who have an interest in maintaining and strengthening many of the dominant ideologies in our culture.
Ed.
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Ed, you say that ‘the specture of political correctness is raised… by those people and institutions who have an interest in maintaining and strengthening many of the dominant ideologies in our culture’ – surely this CAUSES people to think about the labels they use, not distract people from them?
The problem is that when people DO think about multiculturalism in the mainstream, politically-correct way, we end up with people being offended on behalf of others (e.g. Muslims and Christmas), rather than concentrating on the important things in life!
Anyway, this is all rather a distraction from the main point which I wanted to get across from the article – that it’s not up to us to go looking for examples of how certain ethnic groups influenced different periods of history simply to appease those who want to promulgate a politically-correct (spurious) ‘multicultural’ agenda…
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Doug, I read your defence of Max Hastings ‘inspired’ article, with shock. I find it hard to believe that you can support such reactionary claptrap, particularly on the question of multicultural history. The fundamental error in Hastings article is that he does not recognise the contribution that black and asian BRITONS have made over the last 500 years. I am currently writing an article for the March edition of Teaching History in which I hope to set out explicitly how black history can be integrated into the mainstream curriculum, without having to ‘distort’ or exaggerate the influence of minorities. The challenge that I pose to you is how do you overcome the issue that we have had a settled black presence for over 500 years, but this is not at all reflected in the school curriculum? what is wrong with studying about William Cuffay as part of the work you do on the Chartists? why don’t all schools look at Elizabeth I’s attempt to repatriate the blackmoores in 1596? surely this has more relevance to contemporary issues than anything else during her reign. It is too easy to fall into the pc trap, which is, as Ed rightly points out, simply a way for the right to maintain the status quo.
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Dan, I’m sorry that you’re shocked that I sided with Max Hastings. You, Nick and others are doing valuable work in intergrating black history into the mainstream curriculum, which I am all for. I believe that pupils SHOULD receive a balanced view of the past. What I am against, however, is the distortion of the past for present political or cultural ends. Studying black history or the history of any minority group is valuable and relevant when done properly. What I am against is when it is done as a ‘token gesture’ – doing so distorts the past.
I see this as well, for example, in the way that the church is presented in many text books: as a hypocritical and repressive body. Whilst it may have been so in some places and to some people, concentrating on one aspect and blowing it out of proportion is not the correct thing to do.
So in conclusion, History SHOULD be relevant and rounded, but it shouldn’t be made to serve as a tool for presenting the past as being some type of prologue to the glorious present!
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mike tribe said on January 3rd, 2006 at 10:53 am
The textbook I use to teach World History in 9th Grade is sprinkled with gestures towards “gender equality”: reading the book, you would get the impression that women had made crucial contributions to the political, cultural and social development of every society in human history. This is the sort of distortion I think Doug is writing about. Unfortunately, the role of women throughout most of history and in most societies has been that of a repressed majority! To give students the impression that Olympe de Gouges played a highly significant role in the Reign of Terror to to create a false view of both the Terror and of the situation of women in 18th Century society…
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Thanks, Mike. That’s pretty much what I was getting at – applying our political and cultural agenda onto the past. That’s distortion. What ISN’T distortion is understanding that minorities have been repressed yet some have managed to play an important and significant role in society.
It’s important that pupils gain a sense of history and ‘difference’, and not think that either everything has alsways been as it is now, or has been a prologue to our illustrious and magnificent present!
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The problem is that history continues to be written (and taught) by white middle class males and therefore the status quo is maintained. There was an article in today’s Guardian about ethnic minorities in Higher Education and that a very small proportion of students from ethnic minorities study history. The question has to be asked why that is the case? is that because they don’t get represented in school’s history? I think the answer is patently yes. Of course no one is arguing for the situation that Mike describes, although I would be surprised if that is a fair reflection of most history textbooks in the US, but what about the alternative – that nothing changes at all. You argue for a balanced view of the past, so do I, but I don’t accept that there is balance at the moment and therefore am trying to do something about it. What are you doing about it?
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Dan, I want to have a debate, not an argument, but I hope that I’m integrating minority issues into my teaching wherever relevant. You say that you are trying to do something about the ‘balance’ – does that mean that you are purposely distorting the curriculum to make sure it ‘evens out’?
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Who’s arguing? this is a worthy debate! I would be interested in reading about the examples that you use to integrate minority issues into your teaching, not least because I am looking for material for my soon to be launched blackhistory4schools website. Are they on your website? I have to say that I am not totally convinced that your ‘hope’ is enough.
As for the question of distortion, absolutely not. I teach about the Blackmoores as part of a series of lessons on the Elizabethan attitudes to poverty. i teach about William Cuffay as part of the work we do on the Chartists, I teach about the contribution of black and asian soldiers in WW1 as part of the unit on the war etc.
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Not that I need to defend myself, but I’m sure you remember our discussion about Mary Seacole last year, Dan? I discuss the Civil Rights movement and MLK when we’re doing Chartism, the abolitionist movement when we’re doing the American West, etc.
Surely by teaching about ‘the contribution of black and asian soldiers in WWI’ you’re singling out a group? Doesn’t this make skin colour an issue rather than pupils simply seeing it as normal?
Part of the problem is, as you’ve identified, resources. I look forward to your new website! (y)
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It is interesting that the examples you cite are all from the US, that is a reflection of the problem with the National Curriculum – why do we not do ‘black peoples of Britain’ instead of BPOA? do you do any black british history?
I would argue that looking at the contribution of, for example 1.5 million Indian soldiers, is not exactly ’singling out’. And what is wrong with seeing skin colour as an issue, that is the reality. Teaching multicultural history should be able to help us to understand why it is still an ‘issue’ today.
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I do not disagree with you that black history or any other minority should be taught as an integral part of the national curriculum. What I do take issue with is the potential obligitory inclusion of the study of all minority groups at each juncture of history. I find it quite patronising and derogatory, for example, to study women’s role in the development of medicine as a separate issue.
The future of the national curriculum for History is currently in the news. I for one hope that it is reformed to be broader in scope. What I hope DOESN’T happen, however, is what I have alluded to above – that the curriculum is used as a political football. :^)
Ed Podesta and I are having a related conversation about political correctness over at his blog…
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why do you teach women’s role as a separate issue then? I don’t, it is integrated in the same way. the national curriculum is broad NOW, curriculum 2000 massively freed up history teachers. The problem is that most teachers are unaware of this or choose not to do anything about it.
I would also be wary of quoting Civitas, unless you want to be tarred with a very right wing brush!
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why do you teach women’s role as a separate issue then?
I don’t!
I would also be wary of quoting Civitas, unless you want to be tarred with a very right wing brush!
Just because I’m a teacher doesn’t mean I have to be left-wing… ;)
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1) If you don’t teach women and medicine as a separate topic then what is the problem?
2) Absolutely. But you might want to do a bit of research about your sources.
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I’m with Doug on this. Because I am left-wing.
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