The History Teacher

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1991

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Dangers of Ignorance and Misinformation

Collins uses the setting of a children’s school to discuss the dangers of preserving innocence at the cost of dispelling ignorance. The teacher reinforces their ignorance in his attempt to protect their innocence. The teacher’s childlike wordplay reveals how the teacher is trying to mimic a child’s thought process. The students’ violent and aggressive behavior on the playground suggests that ignorance prevents children from developing empathy and compassion.

Despite historical realities that might be upsetting and uncomfortable, learning about these events allows students to practice empathy. History allows students to think critically, so this sanitized misinformation prevents students from practicing this skill because there are no conflicts, motivations, or biases to examine.

Despite his intentions to protect the children, the teacher is instead actively contributing to their harm. Leaving the school, the teacher himself is ignorant to what is happening with his students on the playground. His ignorance prevents him from intervening in the conflicts. On his walk home, he is planning the lesson, showing that he consciously created these stories to share. Collins uses the teacher to illustrate how dangerous continued and willful ignorance can be.

The Politics of Education

Collins implicitly addresses the politics of the conversation surrounding education in “The History Teacher.” Collins uses the classroom as a microcosm of the larger country. The leader of the classroom, the teacher, spreads misinformation to his followers, the students. By deliberately keeping historical truth from the students, the teacher contributes to the violence that results from an ignorant community. The idealization inside the classroom and of the neighborhood reflect the nation’s inability to reflect upon itself and to grow.

Collins positions the teacher’s actions as a political action, even if that is not the teacher’s intention. The miseducation of an ignorant community results in the violence of the playground, which Collins suggests is the cause for rising school violence.

The Overvaluing of Innocence

The poem’s consideration of innocence argues that it is overvalued. In his effort to “protect his students’ innocence” (Line 1), the teacher creates many and more serious faults in his students’ characters. Ironically, the teacher’s protection causes an ignorance that results in cruelty and violence. Despite his efforts to preserve it, their innocence is corrupted regardless.

The poem suggests that dispelling ignorance is more important than preserving innocence. Even if the historical events are uncomfortable and result in a loss of innocence, the growth from learning about these experiences is more beneficial. The other students, the victims of the history teacher’s students, have been taught accurate history, the poem suggests. They are “smart” (Line 16). The poem implies that the difference is a result of their differing education, supporting Collins’s claim that preserving innocence is less important than educating children.