On April 17th, the Executive Board of the Association of History Teachers published a statement regarding the new Constitution to be voted on by Parliament the following Monday.
1.    One essential task of history teaching – beside making the past known – is also to teach the present: to educate about society and citizenship. Regarding the latter, the Constitution has a special role to play.
2.    A constitution can fulfil its function and be durable only if it is born out of the consensus of the determining groups and forces of society.
3.    The Association of History Teachers is concerned by the fact that the Constitution was elaborated without a wide-ranging professional and social debate, the time allowed for the process was very limited, and therefore the necessary professional and social consensus could not be established.
4.    We are convinced that the evaluation of individual events, eras and personalities of Hungarian history is the task of the discipline of history. We disapprove of any attempt to make these the subject of legal regulations, especially that of the constitution.
5.    We would regard it as unacceptable, if – more than two decades after the transition – one given judgement on certain personalities, events, eras, and boundaries in history were to be enshrined in the constitution, becoming thereby – again – a political and ideological obstacle to the free study of history, professional dialogue, and teaching.
6.    For us, the invocation of the “historical constitution” in the Preamble is difficult to comprehend. It is especially absurd that it is regarded not only as an element of the past, but to carry – beyond a symbolic meaning – also legal significance.

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 May 2011 20:47