Does it make sense to teach history through thinking skills?

Abstract

The post-modernist critique of modernist historiography raises the question whether it still makes sense to teach students of history those thinking skills which are associated with history as a form of knowledge. In this paper I argue that the post-modernist critique contains numerous untenable theses, and that it is one-sided in its rejection of the concepts of objectivity and rationality. On the basis of this evaluation of the post-modernist critique the conclusion is reached that (with certain qualifications) the teaching of a certain set of thinking skills to students of history is a justifiable pedagogical practice.