ABSTRACT
Ideas of historical significance are cultural constructs transmitted to members of a society in a variety of ways. This chapter considers the implications of the disparity between who American students are and who their teachers understand Americans to be in the context of national history. It focuses on the results of two studies: first, an investigation of early adolescents’ understanding of historical significance and, second, a similar study with teachers and teacher candidates. In both studies, participants’ choices focused primarily on the origin and development of the political and social structure of the United States, and the explanations pointed to steadily expanding rights and opportunities as the central theme in American history. Some participants—particularly among the adolescent students—were aware of and sometimes disturbed by anomalies in the historical record. As the products of schools that were often silent on cultural differences, the teachers extend the silence into their own classrooms.
