History to me is defined as past events, relevant and irrelevant, as a whole that make up the backstory of the world. Everything becomes history eventually. Most people relate the word history to bad experiences in boring classes with high school coaches who just hand out busy work for entire semesters. I believe history is more, or it could be more. History is a story, a beautiful, tragic story, the most comprehensive story ever. Shakespeare once said, Life “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Although to an extent I agree, I believe history helps one to learn and avoid making the same mistakes over and over. History should be studied for several somewhat obvious reasons. It provides us with the means …show more content…
He states that textbooks take relevant people in history and “turn [these] flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest” (Loewen 1). Many supporters and fans of Helen Keller do not know that she was radical socialist, although this in itself is not a negative quality, I would think it would be relevant information when talking about Helen Keller. The majority of history students have heard or at some point learnt about Helen Keller, but if asked who she was or what she accomplished, most students would say she “was a blind and deaf girl” who overcame her physical disabilities and was still a success, but not much else is known. Another example would be Christopher Columbus, He is known as the great discoverer of the American. The man who sailed the ocean blue overcame several hardships and finally found land and discovered the continent of America. Despite the fact that common sense tells you he did not actually discover America, because there were already people living on the continent. In fact Columbus was a wicked, heartless and barbaric human being. Columbus and his men took “women and children as slaves for sex and labor” (Zinn 1). The Native people were forced to search for gold and those that couldn’t reach the quota of Gold required “had their hands cut off and bled to death” (Zinn 1). The inhumane and disgusting acts that Columbus and did to the native people shocked me to no end. The fact that I never learned about this before college, especially as someone very interested in history, made me feel stupid and completely ashamed. An obscure person would be understandable, but due to the fact that Columbus is one of the well known figures history, I find it hard to fathom that so much that speaks to his character is hidden from students and ommited from textbooks all over the country. Columbus is
The study of past events have been a common practice of mankind since the verbal telling of stories by our ancestors. William Cronon, in his article “Why the Past Matters,” asserts that the remembrance of the past “keeps us in place.” Our individual memories and experiences shape how we act in our daily lives. In addition to influencing us at an individual level, our collective history binds us together as a society. Without knowing where we have been or what we have experienced, it is nearly impossible to judge progress or know which courses of action to pursue. The goal of the historian is to analyze and explain past events, of which they rarely have firsthand memory of, and apply the gained knowledge to make connections with current and future events.
The main purpose of history above all else's to provide current society with a better understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future. Since the begging of time man and women have looked to each other to find emotion, they looked to each other for comfort, friendship, and sometimes hate or revenge. Things like this have been shown throughout history in the eyes of young and old citizens. Among the years we depended on our families or our tribes in order to survive. That is where we learned how to survive all the terrible things that happen.
James Loewen’s, Lies My Teacher Told Me, criticizes the shortcomings of American education that is associated with inaccurate histories in textbooks. First, the fact that students do not have high regards when it comes to American history textbooks, proves how unreliable the education system is. In addition, textbooks are often to blame, because they are too dull, and are rather—boring (Loewen 384), which is why it has become a requirement for students to read books, because no one wants to read those uninteresting books. Even history textbooks, they cover redundant materials which make the subject more and more uninteresting to the students. It makes the students less motivated to learn. Moreover, he also argues that the problematic issues lie within the bureaucracy. They make the decisions on what the students will learn or which textbooks they will be reading. So far, they have not done a good job. At times, history textbooks were often censored and handpicked. It may even be completely different from the rest of the [history] textbooks. These censored textbooks, often keep the students in the dark when the controversial issues are removed (Loewen 389). It really undermines the freedom of speech and emphasizes that, often, key pieces are left out that is critical to the historical event, such as exemplifying that many of his college students have never even
History is a powerful form of context. History is one thing that almost every reader can grasp and have a great understanding of. Also, history is one thing that will always stay current. ...
History is very important for everyone, and everyone should learn about history. Learning History can help to learn about people situation and life from the past. It also helps to know about many events and even some fact from the past. When people want to learn history, they should search about any subject or event from the past and tries to learn the both side of the subject. They also need to try to find what is hidden from that subject, so they can learn more about it. They also need to find out who wrote the subject that they learn about, for not all the historian show the bad side of the event, and they just show the good side. When people know they both side the can have a good judgment about the event. For example, before taking the
History is a story told over time. It is a way of recreating the past so it can be studied in the present and re-interpreted for future generations. Since humans are the sole beneficiaries of history, it is important for us to know what the purpose of history is and how historians include their own perspective concerning historical events. The purpose and perspective of history is vital in order for individuals to realise how it would be almost impossible for us to live out our lives effectively if we had no knowledge of the past. Also, in order to gain a sound knowledge of the past, we have to understand the political, social and cultural aspects of the times we are studying.
I define history as past events that have shaped and molded the world we live in today. The world we live in today is a creation of hundreds, possibly thousands of
Millions of people have gone great lengths to record every part of the past. We may not know much about the future but we have more than enough information about the past. The knowledge about our past has helped us in many ways. Historians, teachers, doctors, students, lawyers and many more have relied on history books and researches on significant events in history to prove their point. The question why history matters has been asked many times. It has been asked by students, teachers and parents sometimes. Some people may see this question as ridiculously easy but I see it as one of the hardest ones yet asked. Does History matter? This question can’t be answered in one sentence. Try asking people why history is important and the answer is usually “It’s to learn from our mistakes”. It’s not right to summarize over 4 billion years of history in one sentence. This question can be easily answered in numerous ways. I would side with the numerous historians who say history holds huge significance. History is older than any object or human being we have ever come across. History has proved itself significance with the help of human beings. We, the people have used history and made it one the most significant thing in present. History holds itself significant because it has helped us understand human behaviors, change in societies, mistakes influential figures have made in past, the past events occurrence and many other reasons. The most important reason is that history protects us by preparing us for the incoming. This essay would analyze the importance of history today by using the past events for evidence.
What is history? History is the analysis and interpretation of the past. History allows us to study both continuity and change over time. It helps to explain how we have changed throughout time. Part of history is using pieces of evidence to interpret and revisit the past. Examples of evidence include written documents, photographs, buildings, paintings, and artifacts. Is history important? When looking at what the definition of history entails, it is clear to see history is in fact, important.
Though our history may bring back horrible memories of the ?grimmest dimensions of human nature? (Limerick 472), it is necessary to have a good historical background. History gives us the ability to improve future outputs, satisfy our unending need for knowledge, and understand how many policies and regulations have come to be. Without history mankind would be very primitive and ununified. Our complete molding of the world today is almost completely dependent on the fact that we study our history. Without history present day humans would be nothing more than cavemen.
What is History? We always ask ourselves what history truly means to us and sometimes we all have our own understandings of what history is or considered to be. According to John H. Arnold in History: A Very Short Introduction, he believes that history often refers to the past and to what historians analyze and write about the past. Historiography has been a subject that has been created to study and analyze the process of writing history or the study of that process. Leopold von Ranke is considered to be the father of historiography. Ranke felt that history should be produced in a “scientific” manner and contain factual proven “evidence”. Ranke laid the foundations for analyzing history and made it a custom for historians to begin questioning
In my opinion , history is something that helps us remember the past , in order to better our future decisions. History is about the important past events that had a large impact back in the day, which contributed to the removal and or addition of certain things that build up our society today. People tend to do better once they become educated on what was going on in our past history. Having knowledge about the history of something is how one starts to progress in life and make adjustments in order to make your future into whatever you desire. If history didn’t exist we would have to
I define history as important events that have happened in the past, and the ones that are presently happening. At some time or another everything will be considered history. History tells a story, whether it’s written, painted, carved, or sung; a collection of events that someone explains to you that is usually important.
History is a body of knowledge that has surrounded not only the events of the past but also their consequences. History is concerned with evidence about human beings who have lived in the society. It’s so concerning with how human lives have changed through time. It’s not only the explanation about the distant past but also that contemporary world. History is concerned with people in the society, their interaction and their relationships with their environment. History had an impact on society because interaction between society and its past is an unending one, the interaction is mutual and continuous. The past exists only in the mind and memories of those in the present. Since history is said to be concerning with people in the society, their
We can use the word history in so many ways and it can have so many meanings and usages. We often find that using the term history without considering the underlying concepts can be troublesome at best. In some instances we use the word history to articulate an actual event that has happened prior to today. We can also say history to show a timeline that includes a group of events or actions. We try to learn from history but often find ourselves repeating the patterns depending on if we have learned anything previous history, sometimes repeating because we did learn effective uses of past history. We want things to be consistent, in our minds we want to repeat those things that went well and avoid the things that did not. So many things are locked in our minds and psychology is our way of unlocking those thoughts and processes from the mind. What makes us who we are is history; it also makes society what it is. Because we have an understanding of our history it will always influence the present.