Jeanne Rubner on common history textbooks

Many history textbooks dedicate only a few pages to the EU, the journalist Jeanne Rubner complains. "Eighth-graders learn far more about the Romans than they do about the Treaties of Rome; tenth-graders know more about pharaohs than about the founding fathers of the European Community. ... The plans for a common history textbook to be used in all EU member states have been boycotted so far. Polish historians immediately warned that there could be no common interpretation of history. This attitude conceals the fear that a common history book would force individual nations to give up their identity. This is unnecessary, as the new and excellent German-French history textbook proves. Rather than dictating a particular interpretation of history, it conveys the nuanced perspective of each nation on their joint history and the EU."

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