Several years ago, cultural
commentators lamented the apparent death of Canadian history. Whatever
the state of the subject in English-speaking Canadian schools, history
has been alive and well in Québec for some time. The development
of a new curriculum is testament to this fact - once the "Réforme"
is in place, students in Québec schools will study more history
than their counterparts in other provinces. But if history in Québec
is healthy, it is also hotly contested. The recent release of a new
Grade 7 and 8 world history and citizenship course raises interesting
questions about why and how we teach history and citizenship, questions
that educators in the rest of the country may also be facing in the
years to come.
The prominence of history
in Québec schools should come as no surprise – history has
always had a special status in the province. Soon after arriving to
Montréal from Ontario, I remarked to Jacques Lacoursière
(the unofficial Dean of Québec history education) that the people
of "la belle province" knew their history better than most
English-speaking Canadians. No, he replied, the difference was that
in Québec, "l'histoire est plus présente". He's
right, of course - Quebecers of French origin are surrounded by reminders
of their past. Their four hundred year presence in North America is
commemorated in folk songs, stories, and place names. Even Québec
license plates declare "Je me souviens" – "I remember".
For a French-speaking people living in an English-speaking country in
an increasingly English-speaking world, identity in the present is closely
tied to memories of the past. And schools are an important avenue by
which this identity can be sustained.
In Quebec, history is a
mandatory subject until Grade 11. Within the curriculum as a whole,
the Québec Education Program (QEP) highlights "Geography,
History and Citizenship Education" as one of five core "Subject
Areas". As the title indicates, the creators of the QEP consider
teaching about one's past to be central to an understanding of one's
civic identity in the present. The connection is not unique to Québec
– educators across the country agree that, while students can learn
to become good citizens in a variety of contexts, history can play a
special role in providing young people with a sense of place in the
world.
The consensus begins to
break down, however, when educators start to define "citizenship".
What do we mean by this word? Answers abound in Canada, with varying
emphases on what we hold in common as members of a shared community
versus the diversity of our identities. The recent release of "History
and Citizenship Education", a course that will be taught in Québec
through Secondary Cycle 1 (Grades 7 and 8 in other provinces) provides
insight into "citizenship" as defined by the QEP.
The course is no cakewalk
– citizenship evidently involves some hard work. A world history,
with an emphasis on the development of "the West", it begins
with sedentarization and the organization of societies, and winds its
way to the present-day. Course modules include, among other topics,
political life in Athens in 500 B.C.E., the rise of the Roman Empire,
the Christianization of the West and the growth of cities in the Middle
Ages. In each case, developments in other parts of the world are considered:
when it comes to the medieval period, teachers are reminded that "it
is important for students to realize that urban growth and the expansion
of trade also characterized some non-European cities in the same period:
Baghdad or Constantinople or Timbuktu."1 At each step,
the history of people outside of "the West" is recognized
in parallel to the main story.
By focusing on the history
of the Western world, and then making reference to corresponding examples,
the curriculum writers have attempted to create a historically informed
citizenship that will meet the challenges facing contemporary Québec
society: "to reconcile shared membership in a community with the
diversity of identities."2 Students are taught, via
a world history, that "they are part of a historical continuum,
and that the values and principles associated with democracy evolved
over time."3 In the case of the Middle Ages, the rise
of a merchant class led to the growth of European cities and the expansion
of trade. Students are reminded that these developments occurred in
Baghdad as well. The underlying principle is one of mutual respect and
understanding.
But will a citizenship that
is built around a "respect" for difference be enough for the
challenges of 2010 and beyond? In cities such as Montreal, international
migration is resulting in increasing diversification of the population,
with a concomitant loss of a common historical identity. As McGill philosopher
Charles Taylor has pointed out, adding to the dissolution of a common
identity is increasing differentiation within the population. With the
rise of feminism, to cite just one example, unity on political issues
has faded, replaced by an increased diversity of opinion. We are witnessing
the rise of what Taylor calls a "diasporic consciousness."
As a result, "people now live in imagined spaces, spaces where
they see themselves situated within a certain society and more and more
of these spaces straddle borders and other boundaries."4
A society such as this requires a sense of citizenship in which differences
are not just respected, but valued. According to Taylor, our differences
will make us stronger and more resilient in an increasingly "globalized"
age.
Returning to the history
of the Middle Ages, I suggest that it would be better for both history
and citizenship if Baghdad were treated as more than an example of similar
events. "elsewhere" – I would like to see the history
of Baghdad taken seriously on its own. And students could go further,
and examine how the contributions of people in this city were central
to developments in the "Western" world. Translations by scholars
in Baghdad made the writings of ancients such as Aristotle available
to intellectuals in Europe. In this way, the expansion of culture in
Baghdad played a central role in the rebirth of culture in "the
West", helping to bring about nothing less than the Renaissance.
Teaching the Middle Ages along these lines would bring the history of
Baghdad away from the periphery and towards the centre. At the same
time, it would provide opportunities for Iraqi immigrants to Canada
to be included in the story. A world history course taught in this manner
would promote a citizenship that went beyond respecting difference,
to valuing diversity. Just as Baghdad helped bring about a renaissance
in Europe, so too might immigrants from Iraq work together with Quebecers
to build a better society, open to the world and all that it offers.
In this diversity lies our future strength.
Will we take advantage of
opportunities to make these parallel stories a part of the main story?
The curriculum writers have taken a step in the right direction by including
the history of the world outside of the West. Now we must wait and see
how much teacher in-service, time in the school schedule, and resources
from the education budget are made available. And we must remember that,
in the end, the kinds of history and citizenship that will be taught
in Quebec classrooms will be determined by teachers in the classroom.
We have reason to be hopeful.
1Québec
Education Program Approved Version, Secondary Education Cycle One, Social
Sciences: History and Citizenship Education, 28.
2Ibid., 16.
3Ibid.
4Charles Taylor, "Globalization and the future of Canada,"
Queen's Quarterly 105:3 (1998), 332.