『미국 역사 표준서』와 개정판을 둘러싼 논쟁

Controversies on National Standards for History and Its Revised Edition

&nbsp;&nbsp;In the middle of 1990s there had been severe war over history, "Whose history should be taught in the schools?" in the United States. It was originated from the project of National Standards for History. The Standards were planned as a teacher&quot;s manual about how and what to teach in history class in the elementary and secondary schools.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;However, Lynne V. Cheney, the former director of Natioal Endowment for Humanities, wrote an article whose title was "The End of History" in The Wall Street Journal on September 20th, 1994, denouncing the Standards as the product of those who were pursuing the revisionist agenda. She blamed the authors of the Standards with political correctness, excessive multiculturalism and neglecting America&quot;s many heroes and triumphs. Cheney&quot;s article was enough not only to shock the members of National Center for History in Schools (NCHS), but also to make the controversy over America&quot;s past raged in the national press and in the Congress.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;It was very questionable why she change her initial friendly attitude toward the National Standards and moreover why the Congress as well as several mass media &amp; broadcasting showed support for her position, This doesn&quot;t just mean to reflect a Cheney&quot;s political power and social status. It seems; to me that it reveals some elements of the conflicts among politics, society, culture and history in America and the direction of American future history education. To understand the controversies on the National Standards would be a mirror to observe both American history war and culture war surrounded in either acceptance or exclusion on the multiculturalism.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Thus I researched the planning background of National Standards and organization procedures of NCHS. Secondly, I examined what the controversial issues about National Standards. And finally, I compared the original issues of National Standards with those of revised edition.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;In this research I carne to the following conclusions. First of all, the debates of National Standards were a battle between neo-conservatives and liberals. Cheney wanted to have hegemony in history education in the position of neo-conservatives. She didn&quot;t follow the flow of change in history. It has shifted since 1970s from traditional history focus on politics to new social history which emphasized "history from the bottom up" and "everyday life of ordinary people." Thus it can be said that National Standards reflected the viewpoints of new social historians. However, it would be difficult to conclude the new social historians won in this argument, because it will take more time to see how many schools to adopt history textbooks based on National Standards.