Why Learn About History
Who has not heard the old comments, “Why do I have to study history? Who cares what happened centuries ago? I’m interested in the present, not the dead past!” I’ve heard it all before, and probably said it at one time or another. The trouble is that the person that makes these comments has never tried to think seriously about history. Consequently they do not understand its value or relevance to the present.
If you have ever been late to a movie or other similar event, you know how confusing it is to figure out what is going on. Your life is like that. You are the continuing part of the story. You are a historian. History is the part that happened before you came into the picture. To understand the movie you must sit through the first part that happened before you came in. So you learn about history to find out what took place before you came upon the scene.
You will understand your own story better when you learn about history. History is more than your own story, it is about everyone in this class, community, and country. It will help you understand your own country as well as other countries and people throughout the world. This country is the greatest in the world. As a citizen and voter, you will have a part in deciding what your country does in the world. When you learn about history you will understand what other people do, what they did, and what your country ought to do.
Avoid mistakes others have made in the past. One of the greatest values of history is that it enables us to learn not only from our own experience but from the experience of others. history is like putting a lighthouse out on a rocky shore to warn you not to go there. There are lessons to be learned. History teaches that the persistence of unbearable abuse leads eventually to rebellion. A government with unchecked power leads to corruption. This is why our founding fathers set up the three branches of our government so we would have a system of checks and balances. Our founders knew peoples hearts are evil and having power can lead to greed and corruption.
Learning about history is, of course, intellectual. You will learn to reason, wonder, and think about the richness and tragedy of our world. Anyone who respects truth will want to acquire information about the past in order to be able to judge from real knowledge rather than from ignorance or prejudice. You will learn to place yourself in the time line of human events. It is also a civic function. It is important to have a respect of what all of our relatives went through to give us what we have today. Learning history also serves a moral function. It should inspire humility and teach us the consequences of our actions. In other words, history teaches us wisdom, how to apply what we learn so we hopefully don’t make the same mistakes as our previous generations have made.
Learning about history can be fun. It is a collection of peoples, families, and nations stories. It is stories about people doing many exciting, interesting, and dumb things, many which have an effect on you today. You will learn how democracy, communism, and dictatorship came about. The most important thing you will learn about history is our struggle for freedom. This is a long and continuous story. You will learn that the struggle for freedom continues. The more government bureaucracy we have, the more freedoms that are lost.