We Should Know Everything Shouldn’t We?: Children of Soldiers on What and How War Should Be Taught

Abstract

Taken from a larger qualitative multi-case study, this article centers the voices of high school students who are from military affiliated families and how they want war to be taught to them. Using heritage history and difficult knowledge as theoretical frames, this article argues that military affiliated students seek a more robust teaching of war. Students demonstrated an interest in developing a deeper understanding of the community in which they live. Students requested a pedagogy that was inquiry and discussion based with teachers not telling them what or how to think about war, a curriculum that was thematic in nature, teaching that was connected to the present, and teaching that was mindful of the personal connections students had to the subject of war through their family.