Ryszard Terlecki

The introduction of modern history courses to secondary schools has long been a postulate of academic teachers, especially in university humanities faculties. Although basic information about the history of Poland and the world after 1945 is theoretically incorporated into the school curriculum, the knowledge of graduates of these schools is very poor.

First, because history teachers usually don’t have time to thoroughly cover the material that ends at the end of the course. Second, teachers often find topics, especially at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, too political and controversial to be discussed in detail. Thus, a gap is created that is not filled by the subject of Knowledge about society (WoS), which mainly discusses systemic issues. As a result, young people – who already have the right to vote – know very little about the last decade, including the breakthrough in the 1990s, about the pivotal events for understanding the problems of the Third Republic, about the political changes taking place at that time. timing, their causes and effects, and finally on the international situation and Poland’s role in European and world politics.

Since the new school year, History and Present (abbreviated HiT) subjects are included in the curriculum for the first two years of high school. The first part covers the years 1945-1979, namely the period of communism and the Cold War, the second part begins in 1980 and also covers the first two decades of the 20th century. Programs and textbooks for these subjects are under development, and teachers can take advantage of specialized courses. Initially, there will be various difficulties, but it is hoped that in a few years the new subjects will effectively fill the gaps in the education of primary school graduates.

Clearly, the opposition does not want new topics, believing that less educated youth are easier to manipulate. The Left does not want solid knowledge of communism and its crimes, the liberals choose not to mention the privatization of thieves in the first years of the Third Polish Republic, even the so-called agrarians choose not to delve into their compromising party past. We also remember the opinion that was propagated in the first years after the fall of communism that history, especially recent history, is of no use to anything. Then the so-called shame pedagogy (the Poles themselves were responsible for all the misfortunes that happened in Poland), then social amnesiac policies were promoted (eg resistance to lust, especially in universities and in court). The disastrous effects of these actions are still being felt today. We should be glad that the next generation will know more about the times before his professional and social activities than has happened so far.