Manitoba among best of a bad lot at teaching history

The Dominion Institute decided to find out what exactly was required of high school students in Canada when it comes to learning about the country's past. What events, people and themes are they required to learn in our nation's classrooms? What skills are they expected to acquire?

The results, found in the just-released Canadian History Report Card (the full report is available at report-card.dominion.ca), are troubling. The Institute's analysis of provincial and territorial curricula revealed that:

"ö Four provinces failed and deserve the 'F' they received.

"ö No province received an 'A'.

"ö Only four provinces -- Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia -- require Canadian history as a mandatory course in high school. The others do not.

"ö Most provinces simply offer courses in "social studies", catch-all courses which generally ignore Canadian history.

For Manitoba, however, the news is somewhat better. Our report gave the province an overall grade of 'B-', placing it fourth in the country, behind Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario. The province's curriculum is not perfect, but it contains much of value.

The newly designed history of Canada course for Grade 11 students has a lot of thought behind it. It is clear that high school history students will develop their historical thinking skills in this course, and that they will encounter a lot of important content.

Unfortunately, the Grade 11 course attempts to cover too much history in only one year. Everything from first contact with aboriginal peoples to late 20th century history is supposed to be covered in the course. As a result, it is likely many important topics in the story of Canada will be, at best, merely skimmed over. This is not good enough.

While Manitoba deserves some credit for requiring at least one course in Canadian history for its high school students, more must be done. Provinces across Canada that demand just one course examining the history of the country should revise their curricula to require two courses in Canadian history before leaving high school. This would ensure a deeper understanding of the country's long, complex and varied past.

Why should we care about the teaching of history? Class time is limited and there are many important subjects to teach, but Canadian history cannot be lost. For citizens to function in a modern democracy such as Canada, they must develop an appreciation and understanding of the country's past.

The Dominion Institute does not pretend to have all the answers, but it clear that something must be done. The goal of the Canadian History Report Card is to begin a wide-ranging debate on the teaching of Canadian history to the next generation of citizens.

If we intend to nurture the past and give a vital "thrust of intention into the future" in the words of political philosopher, George Grant, then we are going to have to do a better job of educating our young people about our history.

The facts are in. In Manitoba and across the country, we are not teaching enough Canadian history in our schools. As a result, we are failing our students and putting our country's future in jeopardy. We must demand better.

J.D.M. Stewart is a teacher of Canadian history at Bishop Strachan School in Toronto. Marc Chalifoux executive director of the Dominion Institute collaborated on the this column.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 16, 2009 A11