Abstract
James C. Kennedy, The Dutch Canon Debate: Reflections of an American This article offers an overview of the American debate over the ‘History Standards’ in the mid-1990s as a spring board for reflection on current Dutch efforts to develop a historical ‘canon.’ For several reasons, various Dutch attempts at canon-building are more solidly traditionalist than is the case in the United States. This stems in part from the fact that for along time there has been an American ‘canon’ about which to argue, making the past contested ground. Perhaps the greatest advantage of having a ‘canon’ in the Netherlands is to stimulate Dutch historians to offer opposing interpretations of the national past. This article is part of the forum 'Debat over de zin of onzin van een nationale canon'.
Highlights
Writing the National History Standards for the American school curriculum was no easy thing, as historian Gary Nash and other contributors to the projects experienced in the mid-1990s
The spouse of the current vice president, Lynne Cheney, who as previous head of the National Endowment for the Humanities once had overseen the project, lambasted the Standards publicly for its deficiencies in the weeks leading up to its publication in late 1994. She decried the results for its overabundance of arcane information on ancient world civilizations, its failure to give the proper weight to Western civilization, and for its neglect of well-known American figures like George Washington in favor of less deserving figures
The Senate further resolved that funding for future projects be restricted to those which ‘have a decent respect for the contribution of western civilization, and United States history, ideas, and institutions, to the increase of freedom and prosperity around the world.’[1]. In particular, it was the failure of the National Standards to directly name George Washington as the first president that generated Senator Slade Gorton’s scorn and anger
Summary
Writing the National History Standards for the American school curriculum was no easy thing, as historian Gary Nash and other contributors to the projects experienced in the mid-1990s.
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