1. What is the role of a country or state? What should it do/not do?
2. If you were going to tell the story of world history, how would you begin?
3. Below is a list of historical events. Rate how important you think each event is (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1=not at all important, 4=fairly important, and 7=extremely important).
a) Islam-Christian Wars/Crusades (11th -14th c) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
b) Abolition of Slavery (19th c) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
c) Iraq War (2005) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
d) French Revolution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
e) Industrial Revolution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
f) World War I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
g) World War II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
h) Russian Revolution (1917) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
i) Man on the Moon / Space Travel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. Are there any events missing from the list, according to you? What are they?
5. What do you think happened in history that was most important to bring us to the current state of the world?
6. What sort of future do you foresee for the world?
7. What contribution do you think your country has made to world history?
(give an estimate from 0-100%, with 0%=no contribution, and 100%=all contributions come from my country)
8. Have you read the article here?
9. Were you surprised by its findings?
10. Are there any consequences to assuming that your country is more important than it is? Or is it mostly harmless?
11. Is all of this the fault of history teachers? Should we be learning more about other countries' histories?
12. The study mentioned in the article made use of a fictional country as a means of proving that nationalism wasn't the driving force behind these results. Are you satisfied that nationalism isn't influencing people's views of their own importance?
..........
Situation
You've been invited to lecture history at the University of Vanuatu: Vanuatu
You've just arrived on the island and are now meeting the dean (your teacher) in an informal meeting. The university has given you carte blanche to teach as you please. Outline your teaching plans to the dean and give reasons for your choices.
..........
Discuss quotes
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?"
--- Pablo Casals
"Every man has two countries: his own and France."
--- Thomas Jefferson
"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."
--- Gilbert K. Chesterton
"It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts."
--- Bill Vaughan
Student Handout PDF: My Country's Better
Photo: Brett Sayles