The evolution of history teaching in British and French schools in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with special reference to attitudes to race and colonial history in history schoolbooks

Abstract

A consideration of the development of history teaching in Britain and France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries demonstrates the growing acceptability of history as a school subject. World History was only approved for schools after the Second World War, although it is mentioned in official statements from the 1920s, in both countries.
A study has been made of the vocabulary used in schoolbooks when describing other races. This shows that in contrast to British schoolbooks, French books include remarkably few examples of denigratory language about non-European races.
British and French history schoolbooks have also been examined for references to indigenous peoples and colonial history. In addition to the North American Indians, several countries have been considered: China, Vietnam, India, Algeria, South Africa, Senegal, Gold Coast and Morocco at the time of the Entente Cordiale. The findings are that the history of subject peoples has always been seen through European eyes and much is omitted from the record. Until very recently, writers have conveyed an attitude of Western superiority over non-European races through their selection of events from colonial history. While this is particularly true of the presentation of nineteenth century colonial history, it is noticeable that since 1945, there has been in some books from both countries an increasing questioning about the motives and practices of the colonising powers and a marked attention is now being paid to the history and culture of non-European peoples.
These developments in history teaching are discussed finally in relation to patriotism, the selection of events and historical objectivity. The unresolved question which requires an additional study is the effect that this presentation of other races and colonial history has had on the formulation of attitudes in the mind of the pupil.