As one official explained, "we understand that school is a unique social institution that forms all citizens"; which means it is essential they should be taught history, especially the right kind of history. "We need a united society," the apparatchik goes on, and to achieve that end, "we need a united textbook".

in 1934, it was Stalin himself who convened an earlier meeting of historians to discuss the very same issue, namely the teaching of history in Russian schools. He disapproved of the conventional class-based accounts then available, which were strongly influenced by Marxist doctrines, and which traced the development of Russia from feudalism to capitalism and beyond. Not even Stalin's hometown wanted to be associated with him anymore... "These textbooks," Stalin thundered, "aren't good for anything. It's all epochs and no facts, no events, no people, no concrete information." History, he concluded somewhat enigmatically, "must be history" - by which, in this case, he meant a cavalcade of national heroes, whose doings might appeal more broadly to the Russian people than the arid abstractions of class analysis and social structure.

Who, for example, should decide what history is taught in schools: should it be the government, or academic experts, or examination boards, or the schools themselves, or even the parents?

Those drafting it had heeded Napoleon’s exhortation to the creators of his constitution to ‘Write it in such a way that it is brief and obscure’.

assical memory laws defend the memory of all who suffered from crimes committed by the government or with its support. France has laws covering denial of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire or the fact that the slave trade was a crime against humanity. The memory law proposed in Russia is fundamentally different. It intends, above all, to defend its memory of itself. More precisely, it intends to defend its memory of that régime which many consider criminal. After all, accusations of unleashing war and installing régimes of occupation are accusations levelled at Stalin and Stalinism.

Secretary Arne Duncan invites comments on the draft National Educational Technology Plan.

This plan is a draft. "We are open to your comments," Secretary Duncan said. "Tell us about how technology has changed your school or classroom." Read the plan. Share your comments, videos and examples of how technology is changing and improving education.