A/68/296 constraints promotes understanding of the importance of choices and the values of responsibility. 63. It is important that history teaching incorporate a balance of political, social, cultural, scientific and economic history, in addition to the history of everyday life, so as to convey the complexity of human society and the multifaceted reasons leading to certain historical events. A balance also invites the adoption of a wider perspective regarding the contributions of peoples across the world to arts, sciences and philosophy. D. History textbooks 64. History is one of the few curriculum subjects mandated in education systems throughout the world, indicating both the potential of history teaching to influence pupils and its importance for societies and Governments. 1. Textbooks as a decisive tool for history teaching 65. History textbooks are an important tool in the hands of Governments for transmitting to pupils the official historical narrative. Especially in countries in which history teaching promotes a single narrative, textbooks occupy a key place 12 and are widely considered to be a decisive tool for transmitting government messages to the widest possible audience. 13 66. The accreditation of one single history textbook is problematic. This includes situations in which States aggressively promote one particular book through subsidies or by purchasing large quantities, thereby influencing selection by schools. Reducing the number of offered textbooks to only one must also be seen as a retrogressive trend. State-sponsored textbooks carry the risk of being highly politicized. 14 67. While States are entitled to reject a textbook failing to meet required and transparent standards, having a single history textbook inevitably promotes the monopoly of one narrative over all others, especially when laws and regulations do not provide for open tenders enabling competition between textbooks. 68. The possibilities of publishing non-profit scientific books and the legal provisions governing the creation of private publishing companies are important. Positive steps include dedicated governmental funds to encourage the publication of academic works without political influence, following transparent allocation procedures; public procurements of books; and incentives to publishers to publish non-commercial books. Without such assistance and private foundations, publishing academic books is extremely difficult and expands the scope for rejecting so-called “undesirable” manuscripts. Special attention should be paid to State-controlled publishing houses with a near or actual market monopoly that receive financial support to publish so-called “desirable” books. __________________ 12 13 14 13-42291 See Henry Steele Commager and Raymond Henry Muessig, The Study and Teaching of History (Columbus, Merrill, 1980). See M. I. Finley, The Use and Abuse of History (London, Penguin, 1990). See Stuart J. Foster and Keith A. Crawford, eds., What Shall We Tell the Children? International Perspectives on School History Textbooks (Charlotte, Information Age Publishing, 2006). 17/27