I will talk specifically about the textbook on history and civilizations for the 5th grade, according to the so-called new program, introduced in 2017. Thus, for nearly ten years now, students in Bulgarian schools have been studying according to this program, depending on the differences in the textbook, at different publishing houses.
The initial review of the textbook on history and civilizations impresses parents and students with its rich content, numerous illustrations and beautiful layout of the pages. Especially for people who were students at a time when color illustrations in textbooks were not mandatory, and black-and-white and color pictures were of low quality, and were not sufficient in number.
After the initial positive impression, however, many concerns and questions arise, with the final question being - how do you actually study an encyclopedia? The 5th grade textbook covers prehistory - the period of the most ancient human history, covering the history of the first civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the history of ancient Greece – Hellas, the history of ancient Thrace and the Thracian kingdoms, of ancient Rome, until the official adoption of Christianity, in the first centuries of the new era.
During the school year, children must go through the various prehistoric eras – Neolithic, Stone-Copper, Bronze, Iron, they must learn about the first civilizations along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers, they must learn about the Assyrians, Sumerians, Akkadians and Persians, about the kings Sargon, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar II and Darius I, about the social organization in Ancient Egypt, about the religion and kingdom of ancient Israel, about the empire of Alexander the Great, about the Odrysian Kingdom and the old Thracian states, about Ancient Hellas and the organization of the Greek polis and finally the entire history of Ancient Rome from the founding of the city to its decline and capture by the Germanic tribes. An encyclopedic material, in terms of volume and content.
Since I graduated from a history major at Sofia University, I can say that in this 5th grade textbook, the entire program from the 1st year of students majoring in “History“ has been automatically transferred and specialty “Archaeology“, at the university. The textbooks themselves, depending on the publisher, are written by author teams, including these same university lecturers, assistants in our time, and now associate professors and professors, as well as, of course, other academic authors. While I appreciate the desire for a broad and in-depth view of European and world history, there is no way that the curriculum for 1st and 2nd year students at universities can be applied to 5th and 6th grade students at Bulgarian schools, in almost the same form.
Let me repeat again that the 5th grade textbook, despite the tasks and exercises set in it, looks more like an encyclopedia than a textbook. And how does one study an encyclopedia, with dozens of hard-to-pronounce names, with dozens of hard-to-understand terms, with dozens of hard-to-remember dates, facts and events? In fact, children do not really understand what "ceramics" is, and we make them learn about prehistoric eras, the history of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, introducing much more complex concepts, names and terms.
Many of the students in the fifth grade still have a vague idea of the timeline of events, on which we try to arrange the prehistoric eras, the civilizations of the Middle East, Hellas, Thrace, Rome, etc. At this age, students still have a problem with linking the individual ancient states and the various historical and military events with the geographical map. Due to the inability to localize in time and space, confusion, easy forgetting and complete misunderstanding of many of the topics follow. This also leads to misunderstanding of the subject of history as a whole and reluctance to study it. Students cannot understand the processes that drive history and historical events unless they are explained by a very motivated and good teacher.
This inability to learn actually starts with the subject "Man and Society", in the 3rd and 4th grades. It then continues in the 5th and 6th grades, and also in the later school years. In the 4th grade, the history of Bulgaria begins with the War of Independence and the date March 3rd, and earlier history is studied in the 3rd grade, of which the students do not remember anything until the second term of the 4th grade, when they start with the most recent history of Bulgaria. The history textbook for the 6th grade is not much different in its complexity and factual content from the one for the 5th grade. In the 6th grade, the early medieval history of Europe and the history of the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdoms are studied.
It is clear that students and teachers are still somehow coping with the History and Civilizations textbook for the 5th grade. The parents, grandparents of the fifth graders are also somehow coping with this teaching material. The idea of introducing a single textbook, selected through a competition, on a given subject, which is currently being discussed, should have been implemented long ago. However, when approving such a unified history textbook, it should be significantly lightened in terms of content. The knowledge necessary for a correct understanding of Balkan and Bulgarian history must be provided, but without shifting the emphasis entirely to foreign cultures and the history of foreign peoples.
I have a feeling that because of the poorly systematized and studied by our academic scientists Balkan and Bulgarian history, emphasis is placed on foreign history. This is at least wrong, given the existence of such an old European civilization right here, in our lands. Apart from that, while we keep looking south and southeast, there is not a single word about our northern and northwestern neighbors from this early era. How is the history of the Assyrians and Sumerians more interesting to the student than the history of the Illyrians and Scythians, for example? And why should we study in detail the history of the Egyptians and Jews, for example, and not that of the Dacians and Veneti?
Above all, the history textbook for the 5th grade, and not only it, should resemble precisely a history textbook, and not a rich encyclopedia in content and illustrations, which should be studied by students in Bulgarian schools.