Gambia Offers a Bold Educational Idea: Tell Kids the Truth About History

In creating a post-dictatorship society in Gambia, some educators are proposing a logical yet counterintuitive idea: "to avoid future atrocities, past ones must be remembered." So the nation's Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission created a 17-volume "child-friendly" report that doesn't shy away from teaching children the truth about what happened during the 20+ year rule of dictator Yahya Jammeh.

"If we are talking about the future of Gambia, or the future of the world, children cannot be sidelined."

In many ways this feels like the opposite of how children are increasingly treated in many other countries, such as America. Here there are growing waves of legislation forbidding teachers to talk about topics that could make children feel uncomfortable, or that might offer them a more truthful account of history that doesn't shy away from the darker times in our shared human past.

Only by teaching the truth of the past can we help the next generation to make a better future. In Gambia, at least, this seems to be happening. More countries should follow their lead.