The Ends of History

By Harvey J. Kaye

As part of America 2000, and in conjunction with the Bush Administration's plan to establish "national standards" in selected school subjects, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Education Department have announced a $1.6 million project to develop the standards for history. (See Education Week, Jan. 8, 1992.) In view of the many reports and horror stories about American students' ignorance of both United States and world history--referred to by teachers, professional historians, and the media alike as "the crisis of history"--such an undertaking seems in order. However, before such standards and guidelines are established there are certain fundamental questions that must be addressed regarding the purpose and the promise of historical education, and, given the record of the Reagan and Bush Administrations on matters "historical," we should be especially skeptical and wary of initiatives to determine "national standards"--potentially, a national...