Interpretation of American History in the Context of Contemporary U.S. Society: From Bradley Commission to 21st Century History Curriculum

The thesis aims to analyze the relationship of the collective memory of an individual and his/her inclusion with the society and eventual ability to generate social capital. This paper evaluates the American federal education system and its interpretation of the historical narrative to the students. The focus of this thesis is the interpretation of historical events in the context of American society, whose structure has changed fundamentally over the past 30 years. Not only society has suffered a significant change, the federal system of student testing and the federal education institutions' funding have been revised too. American society can benefit from it through internal intercourse or, on the contrary, it can become more fragmented if it fails to bring the individual into a contemporary social setting. The work has been defined in time since the Bradley Commission has issued general recommendations to change approach to historical curricula, and then continues to explore the development until 2014. The political changes with the end of the Cold War led to a constant reinterpretation of American history and the secondary the collective identity. In the new millennium and after the year 2014 it has concluded in a discussion about historical education on academic, social and political fields...