COLUMN: Think Again – Canadian history is more important than ever

The recent trade war between Canada and the United States has ignited a groundswell of Canadian patriotism. However, if we want that patriotism to have a solid foundation, Canadian students need to understand the history of our country.

Unfortunately, the quality of Canadian history education in schools is hit or miss at best. Most provinces do not even mandate a single Canadian history course for all high school students, although Manitoba is a fortunate exception. History courses are important because there’s a lot of things that are worth knowing about our country.

For example, all students should learn about the carefully navigated compromises that led to Confederation in 1867, the brave acts of the Loyalists who resisted the American Revolution in the late 18th century, and Canada’s outsized contributions during both World Wars. While Canada is far from perfect, there is much to be proud about in our history.

Simply put, there is a broader narrative of Canadian history that must be told. Many Canadian historians, most notably Dr. Jack Granatstein, lament the fact that social studies curriculum guides have largely moved away from telling the grand story of Canadian history and have adopted an approach that deemphasizes the memorization of specific names, places, and events.

While there’s obviously little benefit in having students memorize a set of disjointed facts, students need to commit at least some things to memory if they are going to properly understand the history of our country. Research backs this point up. That’s because there is a strong connection between background knowledge and reading comprehension.

Research shows that the more someone knows about a topic, the more easily they can understand an article or book written about it. For example, someone who knows nothing about hockey will struggle to understand an article about last night’s hockey game since standard hockey phrases such as “killing a penalty,” “power play,” and “pulling the goalie” are meaningless to that reader.

In contrast, someone familiar with the rules of hockey will know what these and other hockey phrases mean with little effort. This makes it considerably easier to understand an article summarizing last night’s hockey game. The same principle applies when reading articles or books about history, science, or politics.

Learning how to read well is about more than just decoding the individual words on a page. While it is important to get decoding right—and the evidence is clear that phonics is superior to whole language—it’s equally important to ensure that students can understand what they read. The broader the knowledge base that students have, the more likely they are to understand the article or book put in front of them.

One of the best ways to expand the knowledge base of students is to ensure they have a solid understanding of history, particularly Canadian history. By learning about the grand narrative of our history and committing specific facts to memory, students are better prepared to read and understand more challenging academic content.

In addition, learning Canadian history enables students to think critically about important topics such as whether it is appropriate to commemorate Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald for his nation-building contributions. Only people who have a basic understanding about the historical era in which Macdonald lived will be able to contribute intelligently to the debate over his legacy.

If we want high school graduates to be literate critical thinkers who have a strong sense of Canadian patriotism, we must ensure that they receive a solid grounding in Canadian history. Anything less is a disservice to our students and to our country.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.