Page 178 - Balancing between the present and the past

Chapter 7
successfully in the post-test but never received topic knowledge of the test questions during the intervention. However, the collision between the students’ current values and beliefs, and the values and beliefs in the past might result in a dominant present- oriented perspective when answering the pre-test question.
The framework might also teach students not to respond immediately but to consider and use historical context knowledge explicitly when answering historical questions and making ethical or moral judgements. For example, Nina answered the fifth question (about the firing of women) in the pre-test as follows:
I agree with Sophie. Women were inferior to men. Why on earth would rape by the husband be not as bad as rape by somebody you do not know? And why were women allowed to work before they married and not when they married?
In the post-test, Nina explicitly noted that we cannot judge people’s actions in the past without considering the historical context: “At that time [1950s], everything was different compared to our daily lives. Laws, opinions, thoughts; almost everything was different. We cannot judge people in the past right away without knowing the specific circumstances.”
In the control condition, the decrease in the use of presentism was less recognizable in the post-test answers. For example, Thalia answered Question 5 in the pre-test: “I agree with Sophie because I can understand that women want to work less, but losing your job is really absurd. Rape was also allowed. This cannot be true and should not be allowed.” In the post-test, Thalia still viewed the past from a present- oriented perspective when answering the same question: “I agree with Sophie because it is outrageous how people treated women”. The answers to the question about 19th-century slavery (Question 4) also illustrated that many students in the control condition continued viewing the past from a present-oriented perspective. For example, Anna answered in the pre-test:
I chose statement I because the plantation owner was involved in human trafficking, neglect, abuse and murder of people, and he should therefore be brought to trial. I did not choose statement II because you are not allowed to view a human being as a non-living creature.
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