history, truth and children

Today I was watching videos of history teaching methods in government girls schools in Pakistan. It made me realise a couple of things, and it confused me. The reason I love history is because I think everyone is entitled to know the "truth"(however subjective)-about themselves, their society, their pasts. But I think I don't know where to draw the line between what I believe is the truth of how our country was created and what is appropriate to teach children. I think when you start studying history, there is a period of cynicism, and a period of pessimism, and it takes a while to reconcile that the past is the past. All that is well and good in college, but what about little girls who will never go to college? Should they be made to think cynically or pessimistically? There must be a way to teach Pakistani history that is honest (ie: not rallying around bigoted notions of an Other), but honest in a way that doesn't make cynics out of children. I just wish I knew what it was!