Teaching Global History: Context, Not Chronicle; Passion, Not Pedantry

Abstract

SUMMER IS THAT HEAVENLY SEASON when teachers may play catch-up with their reading, be it light or heavy. My light reading impacts very little on this article and might destroy any attempted pose of sagacity. As I have done for several years, I finished the second half of our twoyear world history sequence in June by devoting the last ten days to the Worldwatch Institute's annual overview of current global economic and environmental realities, State of the World: 1999.1 This year's issue was a millennial edition. I then read Robert D. Kaplan's The Ends of the Earth: A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy.2 Because I had heard good things about both books, I moved on to, first, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, by Thomas L. Friedman3 , and then, both because I am a Kaplan fan and because I wished to focus on America, I devoured his An Empire Wilderness: Travels Into America's Future.4 Needless to say, this set me up for a summer of looking at the big picture, and of trying to put the teaching of world history to this generation with their future as the focus of my speculations. Because I am well into my sixth decade, and have two grandchildren, I think more and more often of the contrast between, on the one hand, the content and skills which are debated endlessly by academicians as being necessary for young people today to lead marginally secure and reward-