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... How to teach world history today is a question that is going to grow only more and more important. Last summer in the United States, a debate flared when the influential testing agency Advanced Placement (AP) announced a change to its attendant courses, a change in which ‘world history’ would begin in 1450. In practice, beginning world history in 1450 becomes a story about how Europeans came to dominate not one but all the continents, and excludes the origins of alphabets, agriculture, cities and civilisation. Before the 1400s, it was others who did the empire-building, drove sciences, medicine and philosophy, and sought to capitalise on and extend the trading networks that
facilitated the flow and exchange of goods, ideas, faiths and people.
Under pressure, the AP College Board retreated. ‘We’ve received thoughtful, principled feedback from AP teachers, students and college faculty,’ said a statement. As a result, the start date for the course has been nudged back 250 years to 1200...
Where that leaves Plato and Aristotle, or ancient Greece and Rome, is unclear – but presumably none are ‘foundational to the modern era’. That in itself is strange given that ... Mark Zuckerberg, a poster-boy for new technologies and the 21 st century, admits to the Emperor Augustus as his role model.
Gone too is China of the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) and the networks that linked the Pacific with the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago, and that allow us to understand that Asia, Africa and Europe were connected many centuries prior in a world that was effectively ‘globalised’... And too bad for climate change and the changes in global temperatures 1,500 years ago that led to the collapse of cities, the dispersal of populations and the spread of pandemics.
History is at its most exciting and stimulating for students and teachers alike when there is scope to look at connectivity, to identify and work through deep rhythms and trends, and to explore the past by challenging assumptions that the story of the world can be charted through a linear progression – as the AP College Board seems to think with its statement linking 1200 with the ‘modern era’.
If you really want to see how foolish this view is, then take a look at the front pages in just about any country in the world today. In China, news is dominated by the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese-led plan to re-galvanise the ancient networks of the past into the modern-day Silk Roads... This is far and away the single most important geopolitical development in the modern world today. Understanding why Beijing is trying to return to the glory years of the Silk Roads (which date back 2,000 years) would seem to be both interesting, and important – and largely to be bypassed by the new World History scope...
Students taking world history courses that begin in 1200 will not learn about any of these topics, even though their peers in colleges and schools around the world will. Education should expand horizons and open minds... [W]hat a shame too that this is happening at a time of such profound global change – when understanding the depth of our interconnected world is more important than ever. That, for me anyway, is the most valuable conclusion that is ‘foundational to the modern era’.
facilitated the flow and exchange of goods, ideas, faiths and people.
Under pressure, the AP College Board retreated. ‘We’ve received thoughtful, principled feedback from AP teachers, students and college faculty,’ said a statement. As a result, the start date for the course has been nudged back 250 years to 1200...
Where that leaves Plato and Aristotle, or ancient Greece and Rome, is unclear – but presumably none are ‘foundational to the modern era’. That in itself is strange given that ... Mark Zuckerberg, a poster-boy for new technologies and the 21 st century, admits to the Emperor Augustus as his role model.
Gone too is China of the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) and the networks that linked the Pacific with the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago, and that allow us to understand that Asia, Africa and Europe were connected many centuries prior in a world that was effectively ‘globalised’... And too bad for climate change and the changes in global temperatures 1,500 years ago that led to the collapse of cities, the dispersal of populations and the spread of pandemics.
History is at its most exciting and stimulating for students and teachers alike when there is scope to look at connectivity, to identify and work through deep rhythms and trends, and to explore the past by challenging assumptions that the story of the world can be charted through a linear progression – as the AP College Board seems to think with its statement linking 1200 with the ‘modern era’.
If you really want to see how foolish this view is, then take a look at the front pages in just about any country in the world today. In China, news is dominated by the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese-led plan to re-galvanise the ancient networks of the past into the modern-day Silk Roads... This is far and away the single most important geopolitical development in the modern world today. Understanding why Beijing is trying to return to the glory years of the Silk Roads (which date back 2,000 years) would seem to be both interesting, and important – and largely to be bypassed by the new World History scope...
Students taking world history courses that begin in 1200 will not learn about any of these topics, even though their peers in colleges and schools around the world will. Education should expand horizons and open minds... [W]hat a shame too that this is happening at a time of such profound global change – when understanding the depth of our interconnected world is more important than ever. That, for me anyway, is the most valuable conclusion that is ‘foundational to the modern era’.
1. The criticism levied against the AP for beginning ‘world history’ from a specific date is that
a) history is less linear and more an interconnected web of events.
b) advances in science, medicine and philosophy haven’t been represented fairly.
c) very little has been included about Plato, Aristotle, ancient Greece and Rome.
d) we cannot study the period dominated by the Europeans while ignoring the others who did the empire-building prior to
2. The author mentions Mark Zuckerberg in the passage to demonstrate that
a) it is Emperor Augustus and not Plato and Aristotle who are foundational to the modern era.
b) the histories of Greece and Rome are important to understand the history of the modern era.
c) history is more stimulating when there is scope to look at connectivity.
d) the modern era is influenced by people and events from much earlier
3. Which of the following doesn’t corroborate the crux of the author’s argument in the passage
a) The Belt and Road Initiative is the single most important geopolitical development in the modern
b) Mark Zuckerberg, a poster-boy for new technologies and the 21 st century, admits to the Emperor Augustus as his role model.
c) The networks that linked the Pacific with the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago allow us to understand the connectivity between Asia, Africa and Europe.
d) The start date for the AP College Board ‘world history’ course has been nudged back 250 years to 1200.
4. According to the author, which of the following is a difference between world history before and after the 1400s
a) the former excludes the origins of alphabets, cities and civilisation.
b) the latter charts the tale of European domination.
c) the latter is more about the empire-building activities of non-Europeans.
d) the former excludes the contribution of the Europeans to world history
5. The author wants readers to “take a look at the front pages in just about any country in the world today” to help them understand that
a) linking 1200 to the start of the modern era is flawed.
b) China’s plan to re-galvanise ancient networks is an important geopolitical event.
c) the story of the world cannot be charted through a linear progression.
d) education should expand horizons and open minds
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