Is learning history in school important?

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GoonSquad
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18 Apr 2015, 10:21 am

History is the story of who we are and how we came to be. As such, it is vitally important and when taught correctly, it is not boring...

I think one big reason for the current political dysfunction in America is lack of knowledge of history.

Our system is based on classical forms and notions of civic virtue. If you doubt that, read Polybius' analysis of the Roman constitution (every American should).

Study of classical history (Greek & Roman) gives students a much greater appreciation of WHY our system is set up the way it is.

If more people understood why things work the way they do, we'd have far fewer people trying to break the system (Tea Party as*holes, I'm looking at you).

The study of the rise and fall of the Roman Republic should be taught in every high school.

It is the story of a society that rose up and rebelled against a despotic king formed a Republic and became a superpower.... and then fell back into tyranny when they forgot their history and lost respect for their system.


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Kiriae
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18 Apr 2015, 3:09 pm

The only part of history I liked was archeology and prehistory. It was interesting to hear about the old organisms and early human race development.

But once human society instead of nature become the main point I got utterly bored. I could never distinguish which king was who, what battle happened at that time, what was the reason for a war and what made it stop etc.

For me it is just a random melange of unrelated events, without any logical reasons or effects. Bunch of people killed each other for nothing. Patriotism... Kings orders... What kind of reason was it?



Sino
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18 Apr 2015, 3:17 pm

It occurs to me that history in general fulfills a kind of voyeuristic need. A common line of logic, frequently employed to rouse bored students in middle-school class, is that we study history so that we may avoid repeating its mistakes - but clearly this isn't (just) the case, because people and governments still do the same dumb garbage on a macro scale. Why study history, then? Why even major in it? Perhaps because there is something inherently alien about the way we lived X or Y number of years ago - cuneiform was in vogue during Mesopotamian times, but who the hell does that now?

Not suggesting that all historians are perverts, but those paintings on the walls of Pompeii's brothels have a certain kind of allure.



Girlwithaspergers
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18 Apr 2015, 7:18 pm

I hated history in high school. It tended to clash with my aspie traits more than any other class with the exception of math class, which was pure and utter hell. I never understood all those abstract ideas. I actually understood literature, including metaphors and analogies & the like a lot better. Although social studies had been easy for me in middle grades, it was because the teachers basically gave us an a in everything or gave out lots of extra credit to boost our egos. I wish they would have done that in high school too. My life went a lot smoother when I had all that self esteem and the illusion of being smart.



WAautisticguy
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20 Apr 2015, 11:13 pm

I enjoy history (I take US History). Currently at a 98% A in the class. I get Bs and A-'s on tests, and always As on assignments. The class is on hiatus due to that crappy SBAC common core testing (which juniors who have not opted out take in that class period, because every junior is required to take US History). Last thing we covered was Cesar Chavez (Mexican civil rights) and Gloria Steinem (Women's rights) back in the 60s and early 1970s. We spent about 2-3 weeks covering African-American civil rights...obviously it is important to learn why there are black students enjoying school with white students in 2015. 65 years ago that would have NEVER happened.
Our class also spent a few days on entertainment in the 20s (radio, silent movies) and 50s (television, Cinemascope movies, etc). All just 100% basic review for me, but you wouldn't believe how many 16 and 17-year-olds at my school don't even know what I Love Lucy is, or who Lucille Ball is. BUT...they know every single football player on the Seahawks roster. Disgusting, in a way. I feel reincarnated, because I enjoy a lot of 80s/90s mass media, but sometimes I will go back to the 50s and watch a hilarious Lucy episode.



thewrite1
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22 Apr 2015, 6:51 pm

History needs to actually reflect the world. In both of my 'world' history classes in middle school and high school, it was 98% Europe, 1% Asia, and 1% Africa--as if Asia, Africa, and South America had absolutely nothing to do with how the world has been shaped and just watched s**t happen. Never mind that Western ships motivated Japan to go industrial-on-steroids (which led to very horrible consequences during WWII), that Ethiopia was fighting off Italy during WII, that dictators in South American nations scared people into fleeing abroad, etc. Everything is connected, but the way we're taught History is so choppy and disconnected that nothing seems to fit.


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