Lene Rachel Andersen: Can Teaching History Prevent Authoritarianism?

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, many American citizens are willing to tear everything down. Where did these destructive inclinations come from? Might they partly reflect the way that voters learned history back in school? How well are we teaching history through the eyes of people living then so we can learn from their experiences? To what extent are we introducing students to their culture's proud traditions so they feel inspired to defend them rather than throw everything away? In this episode of How My View Grew, we explore these questions by hearing from someone from outside the United States. Lene Rachel Andersen is a Danish author, futurist, and economist. As a student, she knew history was important. However, when challenged by a classmate, she couldn't explain why. Lene sensed the disjointed nature of the history curriculum but couldn't pinpoint what was missing. Years later, as the result of a TV series she created that went awry, she discovered answers to both questions. Then postmodernism entered the scene, and Lene wondered: should we be teaching deconstruction to third graders—or can this wait until later? Lene's story reveals deep lessons for avoiding authoritarianism and meeting other challenges of our time. **Key takeaways** 8:00 A classmate's question about history stump Lene 12:00 Put yourself in the shoes of people in history 14:00 To avoid authoritarianism and stupid wars, understand history and humans 18:00 Pitfalls of the postmodern approach to history 24:00 An exciting pilot project in a Danish public school 27:00 Third grade teachers shouldn't be teaching deconstruction 32:00 Amiel's reflections **Resources** Lene's web site "The Surprising Lesson of History"—from season one of this podcast **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. **Share the love** Leave me a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.