‘History free of all values cannot be written. Indeed, it is a concept almost impossible to understand, for men will scarcely take the trouble to inquire laboriously into something which they set no value upon’ Herbert R. Finberg (1900-1974).
From Spartacus website section on quotations about history, https://spartacus-educational.com/U3AhistoryQuotes.htm.
Values and school history: some quotations
In 1995, Professor Richard Aldrich gave a talk to my PGCE students in which he pointed out that for much of the time that history has been part of the school curriculum, its main purpose was as moral exemplar and moral training for the young.
Such has been the dominance in recent debates about the purposes of school history of ‘knowledge-rich curricula’, and the role of second order concepts in school history, that many of my PGCE students, both then and in subsequent years, have been surprised by this emphasis on the role of values in history education.
The quotations below provide examples of this emphasis on the cultivation of ‘values’ in school history, and note that although some of the quotations go back a long way, politicians of both main political parties in the UK have in recent years been calling for history to address values issues, and in particular, the idea of particular ‘British values’ (even before the 2013/2014 stipulation that all schools and teachers should promote ‘Fundamental British Values’, defined as ‘democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs’ (DfE, 2014, Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools: 5).
The idea of looking to the past for moral exemplars can be traced back to (at least as far back as) 1858, and the inscription at the entry to the National Portrait Gallery:
1858 Lord Palmerston:
‘There cannot be a greater incentive to mental exertion, to good conduct on the part of the living, than for them to see before them the features of those who have done things which are worthy of our admiration and whose example we are induced to imitate when they are brought before us in the visible and tangible form of portraits.’
1905 Board of Education 1905, Suggestions for the consideration of teachers and others concerned in the work of public elementary schools: 6.
‘In the actions of real persons the principles of conduct and qualities of character which promote the welfare of the individual and of society. The lives of great men and women, carefully selected from all stations in life, will furnish the most impressive examples of obedience, loyalty, courage, strenuous effort, serviceableness [my emphasis], indeed of all the qualities which make for good citizenship.’
1908 J. W. Willis Bund, Education Chairman, Worcester County Council 1908, quoted in Batho, G. From a test of memory to a training for life, in M. H. Price (Ed.) (1986) The development of the secondary curriculum: 224:
‘To bring before the children the lives and work of English people who served God in Church and State, to show that they did this by courage, endurance and self-sacrifice [my emphasis], that as a result, the British Empire was founded and extended and that it behoved every child to emulate them.’
1927 Board of Education Handbook for history teachers:
‘From its (history’s) study, the mature reader may gain a wider intellectual outlook and a saner judgement, but for children it is pre-eminently an instrument of moral training.’
1952 Ministry of Education Teaching History: pamphlet no. 23, HMSO, London:
‘The motive (for school history) is very largely moral, because it is a matter of introducing them to their responsibilities. If the soldiers and sailors who followed Marlborough and Wellington, Drake and Nelson, had defended the independence of this country form foreign danger, they in turn might be called on to do likewise. If the yeomen who supported Pym and Hampden had won parliamentary liberties, they might be called upon to defend and also exercise these liberties.’
1990 John Stokes M.P., Hansard:
‘Why cannot we go back to the good old days when we learnt by heart the names of the kings and queens of England, the feats of our warriors and our battles and the glorious deeds of our past?’
1994
John Patten (Secretary of State for Education), 1994, television broadcast, BBC 1, 12 May:
‘All children must understand such key concepts as empire, monarch, crown, church, nobility, peasantry. Public education systems contribute to a willingness of persons to define themselves as citizens, to make personal sacrifices for the community and to accept legitimate decisions of public officials.’
1994 John Patten, speech at Andover, 18 March (DfE press release 70/94):
‘To have national pride should be seen as a virtue, not a vice. That is why the Prime Minister and I are determined to see British History at the heart of history teaching in our schools.’
2004 Gordon Brown, 2004, ‘The golden thread that runs through our history’, The Guardian, 8 July:
‘Britain’s roots are on the most solid foundation of all – a passion for liberty anchored in a sense of duty and an intrinsic commitment to tolerance and fair play.’
2006 Gordon Brown, 2006, ‘The future of Britishness’ (speech given to the Fabian Society on 14 January 2006):
‘And just as in war time a sense of common patriotic purpose inspired people to do what is necessary, so in peace time a strong modern sense of patriotism and patriotic purpose which binds people together can motivate and inspire… [W]e should not recoil from our national history – rather we should make it more central to our education.’
2010 Michael Gove, Speech at the Tory Party Conference, Birmingham, October 2010, quoted in ‘Schoolchildren ignorant of the past’ Daily Telegraph, 5 October:
‘The current approach we have to history denies children the opportunity to hear our island story. This trashing of our past has to stop.’
‘There is no better way of building a modern, inclusive, patriotism than by teaching all British citizens to take pride in this country’s historic achievements. Which is why the next Conservative Government will ensure the curriculum teaches the proper narrative of British History – so that every Briton can take pride in this nation.’
Some resources on Values and school history
In a nutshell: moral history (Teaching History, August 2003). The ‘In a nutshell’ feature is useful partly because it provides such a succinct introduction to the issues it focuses on (it’s always just one page of information). This provides a precis of some of the ideas in Jonathan Glover’s (2001) book, A moral history of the twentieth century. Glover argues that although in some ways, the twentieth century was one of remarkable progress in some respects (technology, productivity, science etc), with regard to morality, the C20th saw a deterioration in standards of human morality. The ‘In a nutshell‘ article points to Glover’s identification of the Allied Blockade of World War One, and increases in ‘tribalism’ and ‘self-interest’ as key factors in this decline. (There is also a very interesting chapter in the book about the My Lai massacre which powerfully makes the point that not all US soldiers behaved in the same way at My Lai.
James Waller’s (2007) book, Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing is another excellent resource for looking at moral and ethical issues in history (although, of course, it takes much longer to read than an ‘In a nutshell’ summary. A 41 page preview of the book is available on Google books.