Decline of the Antiquity An Analysis of the National Core Curriculum and the ancient history chapters of the new high school history textbook

Abstract

In the National Core Curriculum, which was introduced in 2020, the time spent on teaching ancient history has been significantly reduced. The new high school history textbook, which is mandatory for every secondary school to adopt, was naturally aligned with this curriculum. While the reduction of teaching material is favourable indeed for the students, this should have been done by putting more emphasis on the relationship of historical processes, rather than data. This curriculum, just like the textbook based upon it, have gigantic holes: we do not mention the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but we do teach the Babylonian captivity of the Jews; we do not say a word about the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire, but we mention the Greco-Persian wars and the Battle of Salamis; we finish the history of ancient Rome with Augustus, but we thoroughly teach early Christian history: the apostolic mission, the persecutions, not to mention the Constantinian shift. Consequently, students will receive incoherent, confusing learning material, accompanied by completely obsolete illustrations and unimaginative questions and tasks.