Segall, Avner. “Teaching a ‘Critical’ History.” (2008)

Historically there have been critical challenges to how history has been studied and lenses through which to view historical events have shifted. With the developments of historiography, intellectual history and so on, the boundaries of history, historical accounts and what is considered historical have been redefined. The author attempts to engage with what it means to teach history that is no longer a recitation of facts and dates about how history “actually” was but rather a study of how the past is represented as/in history. This can no longer be ignored since history education has a responsibility to engage students to think critically about the world. The author discusses history and “truth” and “fiction” in historical representations. Is history a transparent record or a constructed story? The author discusses the emergence of history as a science, and how the historian’s objectivity offers a window to the past that previously did not include interpretation. In a history seen through a critical eye, “facts,” “reality,” and “truth” no longer seemed unproblematic. The ability to “see” the past was no longer what was important but rather the ability to construct history. The author discusses the constructed nature of history and the implications for history education, claiming that history is a product of the discipline and authority does not diminish or deny the seriousness of history. The author does not suggest a full access to the past study of history but rather a study of the construction of the past through a critical eye. The author believes our choice in history is not to offer students what to think or how to think. History should force to students to critically engage with so called “truths” of the past, questioning not only what historical accounts say about the past but also how these same accounts have come to have meaning. It is important that history educators provide students with the tools to critically engage and analyze historical texts and accounts and realize that history did not have to happen the way it did.