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dated September 6, 1956: Teaching of history

Lord Attlee, former British Prime Minister, said in Geneva on September 3 that there was "too much about battles" in the teaching of history and not enough about peaceful things. He was addressing the 11th assembly of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, grouping some 50 national bodies aiming to promote wider and more intelligent support for the UN. Lord Attlee said many conceptions had changed since his younger days. Among them were those of the superiority of Europeans over all other races, and the superiority of the British in particular. "But you still find that most people think of their own country as a sovereign state having no responsibility for others. Much of this is due to the way we are taught history." He said when he was a boy, he was taught almost exclusively English history "with a word or two about the Scots and the Welsh" and about other countries only in the context of war. "We did not begin by considering the history of mankind. Governments should be influenced in long-term conceptions. Governments must be reminded that it is their duty to see that the young generations have a conception of their country not as a sovereign state but as a member of a wider community."

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