Posted by Erik Remsen
Recognizing perspectives matter. The Asia Society has identified the ability to recognize perspectives as one of the four essential elements of global competency. Recognizing perspectives is also an essential component for those who strive to teach history.
This book, "Prejudice and Pride" by Krishna Kumar was recommended to me by one of my hosts in India, Maya Menon. The book takes a look at history text books used in schools in India and Pakistan. While I have not yet read it all, the book's existence is a reminder of the importance of recognizing perspectives. It examines the shared history, including independence and the partition, and how these shared events are portrayed very differently by textbooks produced in the two countries. Recognition that textbooks do not often offer the complete history of events makes more work for teachers, who then need to seek out other perspectives, but the results will be better for both the students and the societies in which they live.
This book, "Prejudice and Pride" by Krishna Kumar was recommended to me by one of my hosts in India, Maya Menon. The book takes a look at history text books used in schools in India and Pakistan. While I have not yet read it all, the book's existence is a reminder of the importance of recognizing perspectives. It examines the shared history, including independence and the partition, and how these shared events are portrayed very differently by textbooks produced in the two countries. Recognition that textbooks do not often offer the complete history of events makes more work for teachers, who then need to seek out other perspectives, but the results will be better for both the students and the societies in which they live.
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