A leading British historian has called for a Jamie Oliver-style campaign to purge schools of what he calls "junk history".

Niall Ferguson, who teaches at Harvard and presented a Channel 4 series on the world's financial history, has launched a polemical attack on the subject's "decline in British schools", arguing that the discipline is badly taught and undervalued. He says standards are at an all-time low in the classroom and the subject should be compulsory at GCSE.

Ferguson makes the comments in an essay to be released this week. It begins: "History matters. Many schoolchildren doubt this. But they are wrong, and they need to be persuaded they are wrong."

He points to the popularity of TV series and books by celebrity historians such as Simon Schama, David Starkey, Peter Snow and Andrew Marr. "History, it might be said, has never been more popular. Yet there is a painful paradox. At the very same time, it has never been less popular in British schools," writes Ferguson.

History is compulsory up to the age of 14 but not to 16 in Britain, in contrast to most other European countries. In 2009, 220,000 candidates sat GCSE history in England and Wales – fewer than the number taking design and technology. At A-level the subject lags behind psychology.

"Numbers, however, fail to tell the true story of history's decline in British schools. When you consider the content of what is taught to teenagers, you begin to realise that the really surprising thing is how many, not how few, volunteer for the experience of studying the subject," says Ferguson.

He argues that there is far too much emphasis on teaching pupils about Nazi Germany (studied by half of those at GCSE and eight out of 10 at A-level) and complains that pupils are asked to choose "a smorgasbord of unrelated topics". The form of selection, he adds, "explains why, when I asked them recently, all three of my children had heard of the Reverend Martin Luther King, but none could tell me anything about Martin Luther."

Instead, Ferguson says history should have a "mandatory chronological framework" throughout secondary school and on to A-level. He also calls for more emphasis on western ascendancy, not in "an attempt to turn the clock back" but because understanding why the world became more Eurocentric after 1500 is the "modern historian's biggest challenge". He suggests a focus on why the scientific revolution did not take place outside Europe and how democracy emerged first in the west.

"We have recently witnessed a successful campaign to improve the quality of food served for lunch in British schools. It is time for an equivalent campaign against junk history," concludes Ferguson, whose argument will be published next month in Liberating Learning: Widening Participation, a collection of essays in which teachers, historians, philosophers and businessmen argue education has been impoverished by a narrow curriculum. It has been edited by Patrick Derham, the head of Rugby school, and Michael Worton, vice-provost at University College London.

Professor Colin Jones, president of the Royal Historical Society, said he applauded some of Ferguson's ideas, such as teaching history in longer, chronological blocks. But Ferguson's language was condescending and the argument ideological, he added.

"To change things we should work with teachers and other bodies and not just dismiss what is going on as 'junk history'. It is demeaning, unpleasant and untrue," said Jones, who warned against Ferguson's emphasis on western ascendancy.

"It is more ideological than he claims and the danger is it will be taught in a way in which the answer is known in advance and it is 'west is best'."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said that suggestions to cut the amount of teaching on the world wars had always been opposed. "History is compulsory until 14 and remains one of the most popular subjects at GCSE and A-level," he said. "The new secondary curriculum, which started in September 2008, is clear that teaching must give children a chronological understanding of history using precise dates. Children must study a wide range of areas, including the development of British political power from the middle ages to the 20th century."