HISTORY AND HISTORIAN IN EDUCATION

Abstract

History as a field of knowledge has been in retreat for several years. Little doubt, this problem is calling for separate considerations: why is this happening? One of the reasons is rooted in "historical policy" which has created a new "censorship" and promotes "research-ers" submissive to the decision-make group. Even though history should be a teacher of life, despite its mission it is treated as a "peddlar from whom you can order any merchandise" (prof. J. Szacki, Wokół etyki polskiego humanisty, 2010) [On the ethics of a Polish humanist]. Regardless of the turbulence, the author believes that history has its place in education, pro-vided that the past is the subject of reflection, not of faith. If we do not understand the past, often complex and difficult, we cannot get rid of its burden. Respectively, instead of evad-ing the mistakes once made, we will be repeating them, claiming it is our attachment to the tradition. The historian is not to offer a "good past" as a panaceum. Conversely, his vocation is to provoke the public to study history by putting forward important and courageous questions.