新课程下中学历史教学的目的,在于让学生在“形成对人类历史的最基本的了解”的基础上“培养学生的人文素质”,即引导学生通过学习历史而思考人类发展和自身发展。正如19世纪著名的史学家兰克在《拉丁和条顿民族史》的序言中所说的本书的任务是“评判过去,教导现在,以利于未来 The purpose of history teaching in middle school under the new curriculum is to allow students to “cultivate the humanistic qualities of students” on the basis of “formation of the most basic understanding of human history”, that is, to guide students to think about human development and self development through learning history. Just as the famous historian Ranke of the 19th century stated in the preamble of the National History of Latin and Teutonic, the book’s task is to “judge the past and teach the present to benefit the future.