SIR,—I do teach history, and over a wider period than
Dr. Plumb, like all my colleagues.
If Dr. Plumb wished to confine his remarks to the teaching of eighteenth-century history he should not have spoken in such general terms. Other centuries than his own 'arc on the move'; we can no more shelter in 'cosy truths' about Tudor despotism, Civil War causes, the origins of the political parties or the character of nineteenth-century revolutions than in the Whig model for the eighteenth century. The point is that the collapse of that interpretation has con- fused the whole 'pattern' of English history, and the general turmoil—moral, political, socio- economic—of our times has done the same for all history. Where before certainties were the objective of teaching, today we must teach uncertainties. More- over, we ought to, because history can then be used as the critical discipline that, I repeat, is the most valuable thing we can teach in a revolutionary age.
Dr. Plumb denies thii is being done over the one century of English history that he is concerned with, on the basis solely of examination results, as thciugh this was the only reliable evidence. I don't dispute it. I merely say it doesn't tell anything like the whole truth. As an historian, to answer by the method, Dr. Plumb should be prepared to look below the obvious facts. He should; to begin with, humanly recognise a distinction between effort and achieve- ment. The margin is enlarged by sixth forms (and scholarship-entrance lists) inflated for headmasters' salary purposes, prestige or mere blind faith in the general usefulness of staying at school. It is foolish to lump together as 'addicts of certainties' teachers who might prefer a new, perhaps more 'truthful,' line and pupils capable of grasping only outdated but clear ones; in schoolteaching this is a perpetual dilemma which on the whole university teachers may ignore.
Dr. Plumb should next realise that teachers live long (and most schools have-only, one, at most two, specialists) and textbooks even longer; that it takes time to write new ones and lots of money to buy them, which most schools don't possess (few will be able to buy the documents his review recommended) any more than most teachers can afford expensive new authorities. Finally, it shohld have been clear that I was describing a postwar trend, stimulated by the vastly increased research and the growing number of teachers experienced in or affected by it. If Dr. Plumb continues marking for another ten years (which heaven protect him from!) I'll bet him £10 he will change his tune. Meanwhile, he and some of his academic colleagues could 'get their eye in' by taking a closer look at their scholastic brethrens' difficulties and efforts.—Yours faithfully,
DAVID HENSCHEL
Chaucer's Gate, 57 Strawberry Lane, Carshalton, Surrey
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