Executive Director’s Message
Written by Brent Glass in the From the Executive Director category and the Fall 1989 issue Topics in this article:The beginning of the school year is a good time to assess the status of the teaching of history in Pennsylvania. If asked to grade our efforts, I doubt I would give any higher than a “Gentleman’s C.” While debate on the subject is certainly not new, a recent report by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) offers a new analysis of specific issues and makes some helpful recommendations. PDE’s Commission on Teaching History, Civics and Human Values concluded that “we in Pennsylvania are still struggling to effect a system of public education adequate to the demands of democracy and a changing world. We need citizens today who not only understand their own history and the workings of government, but how our nation and this state … are a mirror of the modern world.”
The Commission identifies several areas of concern. I find myself in agreement with most of its findings. Efforts to concentrate on teaching history are comprised by the competing claims of other social science disciplines. Developing a critical perspective in the classroom or introducing provocative historical subjects is challenged by various interest groups with moral, political or cultural agendas. Teachers rarely have the time or opportunity to become acquainted with new interpretations or even to develop sufficient mastery of their subjects.
Fortunately, my work with the Commission on Teaching History allowed me to confirm a basic assumption: museums and historical societies throughout Pennsylvania are playing a vital role in teaching history at all levels. Many of these organizations have contractural arrangements with school districts to provide museum educators. Several societies publish books and magazines for use in the schools. Many conduct local history and architectural history tours for teachers and students, as well as offer inservice workshops for instructors. The quality of the services offered by the museum and local history educators, the innovative formats they have developed, and the educational leadership they have provided are truly impressive!
I am pleased that our agency is active in teaching history to our young scholars. Programs at the Somerset Historical Center, Landis Valley Museum and Ephrata Cloister are specifically designed in cooperation with local school teachers. Living history demonstrations at Cornwall Iron Furnace, Pennsbury Manor and Eckley Miners’ Village are among several offered at PHMC historic sites and museums that encourage both students and teachers to exercise their imaginations and develop new perspectives on the past. The State Museum of Pennsylvania offers an ambitious school tour program for more than thirty thousand students each year, while the statewide observance of History Day continues to grow in popularity.
Readers of Pennsylvania Heritage have a definite stake in the outcome of debates over the value of teaching history, and the report of the Commission on Teaching History, Civics and Human Values is a good source for understanding the issues and problems that we face. Implementation of these findings and recommendations of this report will not happen unless there is a cogent, informed response taken by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. For those who share my concerns, a complimentary copy of the report will be made available by the PHMC upon request.
Brent D. Glass
Executive Director
