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History stands in line to be the next 'buffalo' in Canadian culture: a mythical creature symbolizing our past. In the museum of Canadiana, history is ready to be stuffed, propped up and screwed to the ground. In the wake of funding cuts to public education and the rise of math and science as academic priorities, history's been put on the back-burner. By disengaging from our past, we are relinquishing our minds to the insidious sermons of the new Gods: Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Phil, Anthony Robbins and their ilk.
So why study Canadian history or any history for that matter? Today, May 1st, is Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. In memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, candles will be lit, poetry read, speeches given, prayers uttered and songs sung. These are conscious acts of history: the process of engaging others with the hope that future generations will take note. If we don't remember our history, as the adage goes, we're doomed to repeat it. For example, the highest-ranking official in the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called the Holocaust a "myth."* By doing so, he is categorically denying the history of the Jewish people in Europe and threatening Jewish life in the modern world. By extension, he is also threatening the existence of the state of Israel. In the West, our ignorance allows us to parody Ahmadinejad; however, Hitler was also ridiculed. Contemporary parlence refers to 'going global;' how can we do this without a global perspective? If Canadians had a better understanding of history - both of our own and of the world - we would take the volatility and potential threat of leaders such as Ahmadinejad seriously.
Canadians, more and more, are career multiculturalists. In our age of political correctness, we have learned to be emotional tight-rope walkers when it come to teaching history. Leo Tolstoy said that "happy people have no history." In Canada, we are often too careful when analyzing the actions of the various groups in our 'mosaic.' As a result of this brand of self-censorship, history suffers. Students are too often taught to binge and purge historical facts in order to achieve good grades while the context is ignored. And thus the prejudices, good or bad, inherited by children from their parents are often reinforced without reflection.
Instead of engaging with our history head-on, we too often treat it with kid-gloves. Most students might see a history class as an opportunity to boost their grade point average or to build a pyramid from popsicle sticks. History provides us with the necessary and tangible signs without which we would be lost. It reminds us of our flaws and of our triumphs. It is hope, inspiration, motivation and joy. What are the implications of the way many Canadians are learning their own history as well as world history? If we don't address these and other problems facing the study of history in Canadian high schools, history, as a venerated academic pursuit, may go the way of the buffalo.
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