World history survey courses involve content across the entire curriculum, and contribute to students’ education in many ways. In the current educational environment of higher expectations and new possibilities, focusing on issues unique to world history teaching may help us to realize improvement in the way it is taught and learned.
Read More
This essay, first presented in the event booklet for CIE’s 1998 Colloquium on World History, describes CIE’s approach to discussing the debate over the purpose, content and definition of world history.
Read More
What is the purpose of teaching about religion in public school classrooms? Is it to propagate religion, and to instruct in its practice? Should teaching be confined to representing the history of that religion which represents the largest demographic group in the country? Or should religions be selected for study based on a judgment of their worth? Is teaching about religion a matter of studying a mere artifact of human development that belongs to a rich and glorious past, but which has been superceded by natural and social sciences? Or is it a matter of politics or social engineering, whose presence in the school is designed to make all groups feel validated? Can public schools support the spiritual and intellectual rights of families and students of different faith traditions?
Read More