Why Study
History?
Why do we need to learn this? This question is asked by students regarding history on a regular basis. I do believe many adults consider the same question without finding a truly satisfying answer. This leaves us with the hallowed cliché those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. I suppose there is some truth to that oft expressed phrase, but the emphasis is often woefully misplaced.
Most students, when I engage them in the conversation of why we study history, focus on the actions we ought not to repeat. Different actions equal different results - so very easy and mechanical. This mechanized view of why we study history is completely understandable given the society we live in and the ongoing efforts to standardize the educational system. Maybe someone occasionally offers the idea that you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know the roots thereof. Thus we continue to search the physical nature of history for solutions to the problem plaguing the present. If we can just find the misfiring cog in the machine it can be fixed. Again we see the mechanization of the world. One might wonder if we teach in the humanities at all.
Evaluating our beloved cliché, therefore, should not focus merely on the actions we should emulate or despise, but on something else. What is meant by the word “learn” in that phrase? What are we supposed to learn? We should explore character, what it is, and how to build it. What is integrity and how do we find it? What is the relationship between fear, failure, and violence and how can these obstacles to peace be overcome? The study history is nothing less than the search for the human soul and our common humanity.
The height of human aspiration and the depths of our faults are revealed in the unfolding story of human existence. The tragic hero and the heroic quest exist in the reality of time. The consequences of moral weakness and the boon granted by the power of perseverance play out, not in thrilling literary works, but on the dramatic canvas of human life. The study of history should force one to encounter the nobility and pain of struggling to be, as the Hindu proverb suggests, better tomorrow than I am today. Self- reflection and honest assessment of my own character ought to be inextricably linked to the study of history.
Abstract thinking, creativity, and the trans-analytic modes of contemplation are the goals of studying history. If and, unfortunately, when I fail to convey history in such a way that such lessons are revealed to my students then I have failed to grant them tools to seek the soul, to improve humanity, and to become a better version of themselves.
That they know cold facts and dates is small consolation to this failure. When the diamonds mined by the conscious mind become dim and the fruits of analytical analysis have rotted on the table of standardized knowledge have I equipped my students with anything of lasting value? When history is reduced to mechanized knowledge, which is currently highly desirable because it is easily quantifiable, we produce more jeopardy champions and less Dr. King’s. And please, make no mistake; jeopardy is not a thinking person’s game. It is a game of memorization and regurgitation. It’s a low form of thinking and it’s not what we ought to aspire to. History is better than that and so are we.
Why do we need to learn this? This question is asked by students regarding history on a regular basis. I do believe many adults consider the same question without finding a truly satisfying answer. This leaves us with the hallowed cliché those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. I suppose there is some truth to that oft expressed phrase, but the emphasis is often woefully misplaced.
Most students, when I engage them in the conversation of why we study history, focus on the actions we ought not to repeat. Different actions equal different results - so very easy and mechanical. This mechanized view of why we study history is completely understandable given the society we live in and the ongoing efforts to standardize the educational system. Maybe someone occasionally offers the idea that you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know the roots thereof. Thus we continue to search the physical nature of history for solutions to the problem plaguing the present. If we can just find the misfiring cog in the machine it can be fixed. Again we see the mechanization of the world. One might wonder if we teach in the humanities at all.
Evaluating our beloved cliché, therefore, should not focus merely on the actions we should emulate or despise, but on something else. What is meant by the word “learn” in that phrase? What are we supposed to learn? We should explore character, what it is, and how to build it. What is integrity and how do we find it? What is the relationship between fear, failure, and violence and how can these obstacles to peace be overcome? The study history is nothing less than the search for the human soul and our common humanity.
The height of human aspiration and the depths of our faults are revealed in the unfolding story of human existence. The tragic hero and the heroic quest exist in the reality of time. The consequences of moral weakness and the boon granted by the power of perseverance play out, not in thrilling literary works, but on the dramatic canvas of human life. The study of history should force one to encounter the nobility and pain of struggling to be, as the Hindu proverb suggests, better tomorrow than I am today. Self- reflection and honest assessment of my own character ought to be inextricably linked to the study of history.
Abstract thinking, creativity, and the trans-analytic modes of contemplation are the goals of studying history. If and, unfortunately, when I fail to convey history in such a way that such lessons are revealed to my students then I have failed to grant them tools to seek the soul, to improve humanity, and to become a better version of themselves.
That they know cold facts and dates is small consolation to this failure. When the diamonds mined by the conscious mind become dim and the fruits of analytical analysis have rotted on the table of standardized knowledge have I equipped my students with anything of lasting value? When history is reduced to mechanized knowledge, which is currently highly desirable because it is easily quantifiable, we produce more jeopardy champions and less Dr. King’s. And please, make no mistake; jeopardy is not a thinking person’s game. It is a game of memorization and regurgitation. It’s a low form of thinking and it’s not what we ought to aspire to. History is better than that and so are we.