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asserting, for example, that the Holocaust was “caused” by a madman named Hitler, and seeking to understand “why he killed all the Jews.” Shocked by actions that they see as clearly senseless and immoral by present-day standards, they tend to empathize with victims, blame identifi able perpetrators and bystanders, and resist distinctions and explanations that could cloud their moral vision. At a more complex level, students create composite pictures. They bring together multiple sources of evidence. They understand that events can have multiple causes and that a force for change may meet resistance which may or may not be strong enough to overcome. They see individuals’ beliefs and actions as infl uenced but not determined by what is happening around them. They may wonder why people made the choices they did and what they would have done in their place. As they link past and present, they may work hard to put themselves in others’ shoes. Recognizing that they do not always live up to their own ideals, they can be generous in their judgments of others. At the same time, they, as budding moral philosophers, expect people – past and present – to acknowledge their common humanity, recognize each other’s needs and take them into account, and to care about those beyond their immediate circle. With a still more sophisticated perspective, adolescents and adults can see history through multiple lenses. They understand that individual choices and actions are infl uenced and constrained by interacting factors and look for patterns that are common across diverse settings, circumstances, and historical periods. They recognize that reported “facts” are often fi ltered through perceptions that are infl uenced by culture, ideology, and experience. Thus there can be many view points on a story, but they do not necessarily carry equal weight. Scholars can honestly disagree about why something happened and about what might have happened had other courses been taken, yet it is possible for students to critically evaluate their accounts and explanatory theories. An authentic understanding of history requires an honest attempt to piece together historical evidence and assess its signifi cance. Mining the historical record, students can draw conclusions about human nature. Yet they need not be trapped in moral relativism, cynicism, or despair; as they make informed and thoughtful judgments and consider the diffi culties they will inevitably encounter in living up to their ideals, they can Section B Facing History and Ourselves: Studying History is a Moral Enterprise commit instead to proactive awareness, refl ection, and carefully considered actions. Making informed comparisons between the past and the present in Facing History classrooms need not be – and indeed, must not be – a dry, academic exercise. The empathy, concern, anger, and moral outrage that historic and contemporary accounts evoke play a vital role in engaged analysis and understanding. As we encourage students to read, watch, and listen with care (in all senses of that word), we can ask them to temporarily suspend judgment, listen to other voices, bring more contextual information to bear on their analysis, and refl ect upon their own thinking without undermining their moral passion. Indeed, by helping students to develop disciplined habits of mind that seek authentic understanding while we also support emotional engagement and ethical refl ection, we enhance their ability to craft thoughtful moral arguments and make informed judgments and commitments. “Young people are moral philosophers. They bring already formed notions of prejudice, tolerance and justice to their studies. As they move through adolescence, their issues take deep hold: overarching interest in individual and group identity; and concern with acceptance or rejection, conformity or non-conformity, labeling, ostracism, loyalty, fairness and peer group pressure.” Young people are moral philosophers. They bring already formed notions of prejudice, tolerance and justice to their studies. As they move through adolescence, their issues take deep hold: overarching interest in individual and group identity; and concern with acceptance or rejection, conformity or non-conformity, labeling, ostracism, loyalty, fairness and peer group pressure. Our pedagogy must speak to newly discovered ideas of subjectivity, competing truths and differing perspectives, along with a growing capacity to think hypothetically and inclination to fi nd personal meaning Pg No: 54
in newly introduced phenomena. In order to make sense of the present and future, students need an opportunity to fi nd meaning in the past and to examine history in all of its complexities, including its legacies of prejudice and discrimination, resilience and courage. Our task, as history Footnotes 1. 2. Section B Facing History and Ourselves: Studying History is a Moral Enterprise educators is to facilitate that study and to do so in a way that taps their moral potential and inspires their moral imaginations about their civic role in the communities, societies and world in which they inhabit. Alan Stoskopf, “Core Concepts in Historical Understanding” unpublished briefi ng paper, Facing history and Ourselves, 2005 For a complete description of Facing history and Ourselves see Martin E. Sleeper and Margot Stern Strom, “Facing history and Ourselves” in Maurice Elias and Harriett Arnold, eds, The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement (Corwin Press, 2006) pp. 240-246 Adam Strom is the Director of Research and Development at Facing History and Ourselves. He is the author and editor of numerous Facing History publications including: ‘Fundamental Freedoms: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ and ‘Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging in a Changing World’. He may be contacted at Adam_Strom@facing.org Martin Sleeper is the Associate Executive Director of Facing History and Ourselves. Before joining the Facing History staff, he was the Principal of the Runkle School in Brookline, MA. He has written and published numerous articles on history, civics, and moral education. He may be contacted at marty_sleeper@facing.org Pg No: 55
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Editorial Team Aanchal Chomal, Gaut
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTS Issue XV : August 2010 Soc
Page 6 and 7: S E C T I O N A The Broad Picture
Page 8 and 9: snares and pitfalls of any examinat
Page 10 and 11: 02 Section A Contested Terrain of S
Page 12 and 13: The views stated in NCFSE, 2000 wer
Page 14 and 15: “given stock of knowledge availab
Page 16 and 17: that the framework used to create i
Page 18 and 19: 03 Section A The ‘Defi cient’ S
Page 20 and 21: into the mainstream in the context
Page 22 and 23: social science are also changing. T
Page 24 and 25: kind (education being one of them)
Page 26 and 27: political science and sociology tex
Page 28 and 29: 05 Section A Vexing Questions in So
Page 30 and 31: the common language used to referen
Page 32 and 33: scientifi c. Natural science has a
Page 34 and 35: evolve around what the child alread
Page 36 and 37: 06 Section A Social Sciences and th
Page 38 and 39: main focus should be on contemporar
Page 40 and 41: 07 Section B Learning Social Scienc
Page 42 and 43: During this period I had the privil
Page 44 and 45: hunter-gatherers did not know how t
Page 46 and 47: see everything as transitional, as
Page 48 and 49: 09 Section B Building Tomorrow’s
Page 50 and 51: understanding of rights that emphas
Page 52 and 53: 10 Section B Facing history and Our
Page 56 and 57: 11 Section B Maps and Politics M. H
Page 58 and 59: Maps as Creations of Politics Polit
Page 60 and 61: 12 Section B Geography in Daily Lif
Page 62 and 63: a times we discussed and debated on
Page 64 and 65: 13 Section B Oh! Panchayat: Loose L
Page 66 and 67: Lesson 3 Accidental Crossing of Bra
Page 68 and 69: 14 Section B Geography Education fo
Page 70 and 71: Re-imagining geography Education in
Page 72 and 73: 15 Section B Issues in History Educ
Page 74 and 75: initially believe that history is j
Page 76 and 77: In tune with the overall emphasis o
Page 78 and 79: at this end. Linking Textbooks, Tea
Page 80 and 81: 17 Section C Review of new NCERT So
Page 82 and 83: in places and the monotony broken b
Page 84 and 85: were an attentive lot, eager to sha
Page 86 and 87: 19 Section C Vignettes - The Journe
Page 88 and 89: I followed more or less the same me
Page 90 and 91: 20 Section C Does Neutral = Controv
Page 92 and 93: also argue against the teacher pres
Page 94 and 95: S E C T I O N D The Role of Assessm
Page 96 and 97: 4. 5. 6. Understand the role indivi
Page 98 and 99: compare different periods and place
Page 100 and 101: Our experiences with open-book exam
Page 102 and 103: Answer 4 Answer 5 Section D Assessm
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Equally important is the need to ma
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22 Section D Beyond Retention: Mean
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What was the contemporary political
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• What crops do you predict might
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also. So what is the objective of a
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24 Section D Exams: The Need to Res
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in. However in the process cognitiv
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25 Section D Role of Projects, Fiel
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which may be worth raising: Questio
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26 Section E The Importance of Bein
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which produce professionals who cer
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sides to any story. For example, th
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28 Section E Why the Social Science
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Alas! These were unrealised dreams:
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seeing another part of the world an
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30 Section E How History has Shaped
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31 Section E The Social Sciences—
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32 Section F Beyond Dates and Fight
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is not boring and does not tire one
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D. Some Useful Books • Samajik Ad
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• • • • • • Section F T
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