Almost everywhere in the world, official school curricula require that the teaching of history develop students' capacity for intellectual autonomy and critical thinking. They don't bear anymore the mission to instil in students' consciousness a single narrative glorifying the nation or the community. Still, whenever the teaching of history is called into question in public debates, it is always in reference to this sort of narrative: school curricula do not include it, yet it is the sole point of these debates. The article gives several examples of such debates throughout the world. It then concludes that these are most probably pointless debates as it seems we overestimate the actual effects of history education. Examples of this are also given.
History Education; Politics; Narrative