Life lessons

Christian Century, Sept 20, 2005

LIFE LESSONS: Until the 19th century, the teaching of history was largely for the sake of ethical instruction--to give examples to the young of good and bad action. This approach was challenged by German historians, who attempted to be value-free, but the older tradition prevailed in the teaching of Western civilization, which attempted to demonstrate the superiority of Western culture.

According to Charles W. Hedrick Jr. of the University of California-Santa Cruz, the teaching of world history these days encourages cultural toleration and multiculturalism--so in that respect it is not value-free--but otherwise tends to be relativistic and to offer no vantage point from which to make judgments. Hedrick argues that political ethics and history should be complementary. "Is factuality enough of a justification for the study of history?" (Journal of World History, March).