20100217

How should history be taught in Sweden?

Given a limited amount of time what should the priority be for teaching history in Sweden in a global world. This is not an easy question.

If the goal is to prepare the students for the world, for them to be able to compete on the world stage, it might be better to teach a version of world history rather than spending time on too much detail in Swedish history. The same would go for literature. Students would learn first the best literature in the world. The 50 best books first. I don't know, but there might not be a Swedish one. If not they would become handicapped relative students growing up in major countries.

It is interesting to compare with sports. Our athletes are some of the best ambassadors for Sweden that we have. They have to learn the trade of international sports first. Otherwise they will also become handicapped.

Someone told me that this is why Sweden excels in engineering because math, physics and chemistry are international. We lag behind as we are in a minority language area to start with.

I don't think it is possible to give students an international identity, rather than a Swedish one, but the question is how you strike the balance.

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