Publish at February 01 2016 Updated November 03 2021
A school aims to give all children no matter their social background, the cultural keys to understanding the world around them. In addition to the classic subjects of French and mathematics, children now encounter broader modules dealing with the history of the arts, the contemporary world, or foreign languages... and this from the elementary level up to high school in particular.
The presence of certain subjects seems to be self-evident, such as English, the mastery of which offers more professional outlets, but other subjects are to be justified to some of our learners. This is the case of history geography, which is not very popular in many courses. Students then question the interest of this discipline, just like that of its citizen counterpart in high school, philosophy.
Multiple Approaches
Certainly, history-geography is an element of general knowledge, but above all, allows one to situate oneself at the heart of a society, to identify the actions that led to certain transformations of the world, sometimes for good, sometimes for worse, to learn about the worst human periods, such as the holocaust or the slave trade for example, and to give hope that they will never happen again thanks to an awareness of the impacts and consequences of the actions that follow one another, rarely without societal impact.
It is also a way of thinking, of working, that relies on the study of written, audio or iconographic documents that aim to open up our students' horizons and thinking. This constitutes a vital objective of the history program, including for the youngest, who practice writing, reading, mathematics, rhetoric...
The teaching of history in France tends to follow a progression beginning with the teacher's talk in classes where young people do not yet have the minimum data. Over time, autonomy in the face of document study allows students to develop their thought processes in the face of a large body of data.
A Tool to Help you Grow as a Thinker.
More concretely, helps young people to become enlightened citizens, endowed with values in which they believe, and which they are ready to defend. This will be evident in national competitions as well as in the face of a physical or cultural threat.
History constitutes the cement of unity, of a collective entity that is erected around a common past, even if it is a discipline based on a philosophy of interpretation, starting from past events that researchers and historians have generally not witnessed. History allows us to go beyond yesterday and turn towards philosophy and the future of society, developing our thought, based on facts, extrapolation, or rationalization.
Picture credits: Songquan Deng Shutterstock
References
History-geography in primary school: curriculum, practices and issues - Education formation - Philippe Claus - .pdf
http://media.education.gouv.fr/file/89/9/20899.pdf
History and geography, what's the point? - Allo Prof
http://www.alloprof.qc.ca/BV/pages/t1067.aspx
What is history for? - Parenthèse Laurence Luret - Podcast France Inter -
http://www.podcasting.fr/parenth%C3%A8se-podcast-457411/a-quoi-sert-lhistoire-telecharger-279319338/
History-geography, civic education, today - Le magazine Education-Formation - .pdf
http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/93/5/20935.pdf
How are history and geography taught in primary school? Constat et évolution en cours - Philippe Claus - Eduscol
http://eduscol.education.fr/cid46065/comment-l-histoire-et-la-geographie-sont-elles-enseignees-a-l-ecole-primaire%A0-constat-et-evolution-en-cours.html
Why teach history? - Thematic edition - We-they http://www.vousnousils.fr/2015/10/06/pourquoi-enseigner-lhistoire-576494
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