The study of history is not only remembering answers. Thus, “history” is usually taken to mean what happened in the past but written history is a dialogue among historians, not only about what happened but about why and how events unfolded. Students need to realize that historians may differ on the facts they incorporate in the development of their narratives and disagree as well on how those facts are to be interpreted. To overcome these problems requires the use of more than a single source: of history books other than textbooks and of a rich variety of historical documents and artifacts that present alternative voices, accounts, and interpretations or perspectives on the past. These problems are deeply rooted in the conventional ways in which textbooks have presented history: a succession of facts marching straight to a settled outcome. Or, worse yet, they rush to closure, reporting back as self-evident truths the facts or conclusions presented in the document or text.
“Am I on the right track?” “Is this what you want?” they ask.
One of the most common problems in helping students to become thoughtful readers of historical narrative is the compulsion students feel to find the one right answer, the one essential fact, the one authoritative interpretation.