Justify the Inclusion of History in the Sdcipline- Based Secondary School Curriculum.
JUSTIFY THE INCLUSION OF HISTORY IN THE S\DCIPLINE- BASED SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM.
The presence of History in the discipline-based secondary school curriculum is to a larger extent necessary. The subject satisfies the need for identity; enhances professional thinking; demonstrates what it means to be human; improves judgment; provides instructive examples; promotes democracy; gives pleasure. To a lesser extent, though, there are a few views from the critics of the subject who feel that it does not possess sufficient value to warrant formal instruction in secondary schools. They feel that History is acceptable for the privileged few; is full of memorization and rote learning; and they argue that objectivity is unobtainable. In the overall balancing, the subject has ample uses that have managed to preserve it as a central feature of the secondary school curriculums regardless of the few issues raised by faultfinders.
History is defined by Harrison (2013:01) as “the analysis and interpretation of the human past that enables us to study continuity and change over time.” This definition entails that exploration and creativity are pertinent human abilities that should be sought in order to aptly spell out how people and society changed over time. In agreement with this view, Holt (1990:57) also posits that, “History is a means to understand the past and present.” The common suggestion in the two definitions is that different interpretations of the past help people to comprehend current affairs differently and therefore try to envisage different futures. To amply discuss the place of History in secondary school curriculums, it is pertinent to define the term curriculum as well. Narrowly defined, it is the aggregate of courses of study given in a school - packaged programs to be used by teachers to direct their classrooms (Toutou 2012:35). Kerr defines it more broadly (in Kelly 1983:10) as, “All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is
The presence of History in the discipline-based secondary school curriculum is to a larger extent necessary. The subject satisfies the need for identity; enhances professional thinking; demonstrates what it means to be human; improves judgment; provides instructive examples; promotes democracy; gives pleasure. To a lesser extent, though, there are a few views from the critics of the subject who feel that it does not possess sufficient value to warrant formal instruction in secondary schools. They feel that History is acceptable for the privileged few; is full of memorization and rote learning; and they argue that objectivity is unobtainable. In the overall balancing, the subject has ample uses that have managed to preserve it as a central feature of the secondary school curriculums regardless of the few issues raised by faultfinders.
History is defined by Harrison (2013:01) as “the analysis and interpretation of the human past that enables us to study continuity and change over time.” This definition entails that exploration and creativity are pertinent human abilities that should be sought in order to aptly spell out how people and society changed over time. In agreement with this view, Holt (1990:57) also posits that, “History is a means to understand the past and present.” The common suggestion in the two definitions is that different interpretations of the past help people to comprehend current affairs differently and therefore try to envisage different futures. To amply discuss the place of History in secondary school curriculums, it is pertinent to define the term curriculum as well. Narrowly defined, it is the aggregate of courses of study given in a school - packaged programs to be used by teachers to direct their classrooms (Toutou 2012:35). Kerr defines it more broadly (in Kelly 1983:10) as, “All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is
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