I am just curious about this in general. For context, I am in my 12th year of homeschooling my kids. In my growth, to public school and pretty much hated history because of having to memorize dates, names, battle locations, etc.
Although I have found history much more interesting while teaching it to my children, I don’t quite understand why it is taught that much. Take for example elementary school. In the curriculum that I use, or in public schools, I come across history being taught with written memorization and a focus on analysis and depth. To me, it seems it would be more beneficial to focus on a general overview, maybe highlighting stories of important figures.
We live in Virginia and I remember going to Mount Vernon and finding George Washington’s life fascinating. That is how history should be taught to kids. Another example of this is my son who is currently taking general education classes at community college and wants to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. His history class is quite intense and I don’t agree with him having to go through all of that because he is going to forget 90% of it and it has no relevance to his chosen career.
I suppose this argument could be made for other general Ed subjects but I am just wondering about history. Even in society, why do we have all of this focus on the past? I mean, it’s huge and irrelevant. There are books, historical sites, discussions, analyses, and people who spend their careers focused on it. Is there another argument in favor of this other than “so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past“? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this because I feel like I must be missing something. Again, I’m not saying history should not be taught at all, I am just confused as to why it is studied in such depth or why kids/college students are required to learn it in detail.
Your argument clearly explains why homeschooling is problematic.
Work in the sciences. Forever grateful to my amazing history teachers in HS. Western Civ especially. It is a critical topic for understanding the world (past and present) and our place in it.
History reveals the things that different individuals have attempted to conceal over the ages. Despite our best efforts to exclude unpleasant words from our writing, history explains why some individuals are antagonistic against one another. The more you can put yourself in their position, the more adept at handling a situation. Your ability to communicate with people from different cultures will improve with your understanding of their motivations. You can also consider and comprehend other people’s perspectives more effectively.
History is an invaluable tool against fundamentalism and brainwashing.
Sometimes history is changed and sanitized before being used to stir up conflict and hatred, but after a few centuries, everything comes to light and survives. History buffs are resistant to being quickly impressed and coerced into conflict.
It will be exceedingly difficult for anyone to trick you into your day-to-day existence if you can “decipher” history. This is a life skill that you can apply to both your social and professional circles.
Your thoughts have left me wondering where you come from that history was only memorizing dates and battles. Let me tell you today and I want you to always remember that History has not really been taught that way in the mainstream US since the 1950s.
History gives you context for everything as it is today. I am not a historian but I feel like it is a natural human activity, to tell your young ones about things that have happened in the past so that you teach them the lessons, provide context, or simply pass on knowledge of the world and humanity and heritage.
I would admit that, during all of K–12, I don’t recall many, if any, specifics from my history studies. I still find history to be quite fascinating, and knowing more about it improves my understanding of the world. And occasionally, I feel a bit ashamed of my ignorance, as though I am ignorant of human folklore. However, I didn’t recall it as a child because the significance was not explained to me. However, the abilities you developed while intently reading, analyzing, discussing, empathizing, etc. will be with you even if you forget the specifics ten years later.
And you need to know and tell your kids that just because you don’t use something for your career doesn’t make it useless. The purpose of education is not just to train future workers, it is to create a literate, well-informed society of people who have morals and can think critically.
As a history lover, History is usually taught incorrectly in our schools and people misuse the word history as they believe it is about absolute facts, which is never the case.
Understand that history is constantly being rewritten, and a lot of the more complex events are not agreed upon. The subject of history is about research and conducting an analysis. There are some things we know, and a decent foundation is important, but it is a fool’s errand and a waste of time to simply memorize endless minutia.
You are absolutely irrelevant because memorizing dates is the sort of stuff people did in the 50s.
Nowadays, the main focus of history is why things happened, how people dealt with said things, and what those things caused later on. No one cares about when things happened anymore, maybe only you and your kids.
The prism of ideology is history. Our worldview is shaped by our social stories, which means that the state can effectively replicate and propagate its “ideal” ideology. For some educators, this implies that we have the power to fundamentally alter the way kids perceive the world.
History serves as a molding tool for critical thinking. Examining history via case studies, names, dates, geography, politics, and other elements is a very helpful teaching and learning tool.
. In the country, we have schools so children can get exposure to a bigger world.