Teaching Canadian History

Book Review # 99970

Canadian Studies > History, Culture
Education > Curriculum
History

The paper looks at the Jack Granatstein's "Who Killed Canadian History?", which discusses how Canadian history should be taught in Canadian schools.

1,216 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at Jack Granatstein's "Who Killed Canadian History?" where he claims that the history of Canada has been seriously damaged by the practice of studying differences rather than commonalities. The paper asserts that Granatstein fails to appreciate that there is ample room for group and particularist histories that do not fit easily within an over-arching historical narrative. The paper maintains that Granatstein fails to recognize that Canadians, living in an evermore diverse society, need to have an ever-expanding and ever-diversifying view of history too.

From the Paper:

"In fairness to Jack Granatstein, there are various problems afflicting public memory in Canada - or at least there were in 1998 when his tome was released. For instance, one online source notes that a 1997 Angus Reid poll found only one-third of Canadians knew that Remembrance Day commemorates the end of World War One whereas a scant five percent knew that the Upper and Lower Canada rebellions took place in 1837. More unsettling, given its political relevance today, only 10 percent of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 who were contacted by pollsters knew what the Quiet Revolution was all about and 17 percent of respondents - nearly one out of every five - inexplicably claimed Tennessee Williams and Andy Warhol were Canadian. To this melange of error and misunderstanding could be added numerous other instances drawn from the same survey. The end result of all of this, in the view of Dr. Granatstein, will be - may already be fast becoming - disaster."

Sample of Sources Used:

Byfield, Ted. "We Don't Teach Canadian History Because Its Incompatible with Canadian Culture." Alberta Report 4 May 1998: 52.
Kealey, Linda. "Who Killed Canadian History? (Book Review)." Letters in Canada, 69.1 (1999-00): 155-57.
McMaster, Geoff. "Who Killed Canadian History?" University of Alberta: Department of History and Classics. 1 May 1998. University of Alberta. 23 Oct. 2006 <http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/historyandclassics/news.cfm?story=27411>
Osborne, Ken. "Who Killed Canadian History? (Book Review)." Canadian Historical Review, 80.1 (1999): 114-118
Sheppard, Robert. "True Amnesiac Love." Maclean's 15 Jun. 1998: 66.