Contemporary secondary education is marked by the standardization of both content and testing. The effect of this characterization on history, the humanities, and social studies results in a break from the spirit of these disciplines. Regarding history, the specific implications include objectification of causation and "the truth" about the past, which in turn, narrows the range of questioning and investigation by students and restricts the pedagogy of teachers. In the article, the author investigates some parameters of World War I and the contextual understanding of the causes of this event via standardization. In the broader sense, the author strives to contribute to the dialogue on the purpose of history in modern high schools and its relationship to its meaning in higher education.