Our youth today are the stewards of Texas’ history tomorrow. The future of preserving Texas’ historic places depends upon educating younger generations about its value and importance. Historic places provide an authentic and interactive experience of history, making it a valuable learning tool for educators and students (public and private school teachers, homeschoolers, parents and grandparents included!). Students in K-12, community college, trade schools, colleges and universities are all prime audiences for learning about historic preservation through curricula in related studies.
Encouraging and providing resources for the continuing education of individuals already in the field of preservation, or in related fields (such as architecture, planning, public administration, tourism, etc.), is also critical. Technologies, methods, policies and tools for historic preservation change and evolve. In some cases, traditional building craft is becoming a lost art, and there are few skilled craftspeople who carry on the knowledge and techniques of historic building methods.
Issues to Explore
- Lack of preservation integrated into formal history curricula
- Need for preservation education for public officials and policy makers
- Need for preservation education for professionals in complimentary disciplines, such as architects, planners, public administrators, public historians, economic developers, tourism professionals, etc.
- Traditional building methods and materials conservation is becoming a lost art
- Stronger opportunities for continuing education and resources for preservation professionals
- Respondents selected preservation’s ability to educate residents about the importance of history as the fourth top benefit.
- Preservation is most effective at promoting community history, according to those surveyed.
- The second biggest threat to historic resources was identified as the public’s lack of understanding and appreciation of historic preservation.
- Providing education and training to the general public and to public officials were in the top responses of things to improve to better preservation efforts.
- Many open-ended comments focused on the importance of educating our youth on the value and importance of preservation and integrating preservation into school curricula.
The 2006 Preserve America Summit held a Youth Summit that coincided with the larger summit itself. The fact that this meeting among American youth took place reinforces the need for more preservation education in younger generations, but also blazes a trail for integrating youth in the preservation dialogue. The Summit advanced the recommendation of Promoting Heritage Education and strongly encouraging the inclusion of heritage education in national and state history and social studies standards and curricula.