Abstract

Three powerful arguments have dominated discussion on the educational purposes of historical study: 1. history serves as the collective memory of mankind; 2. it enlarges our experience and extends our perspective; 3. the actual process of acquiring historical knowledge offers reward in itself. Recent debate has restated and sharpened, rejected and superseded this traditional framework. In the United States, the inquiry approach, which emphasized historians' tools, has been criticized by those who feel the new "social studies" have moved too far in the direction of the social sciences. In Britain, the "form of knowledge" approach has been highly influential. Clearly, skills cannot be divorced from content. The nature and structure of history is such that it embraces not only methodology, inquiry, and concepts, but also message and experience. It is the narrative framework of history which informs understanding. We need history as story as well as history as inquiry