Is history important?

[Joe_in_RP]

When I was in school I hated history. It was so boring. Now I understand the importance of history. But I am surprised how many people don't know, don't care and don't study history.

Someone asked:

Quote:

Why not join with the pope in telling folk that humans need a break every week. Most people have a 5 day week anyhow so why the fuss? Just suggest that Saturday also be included in the weekend. I do not believe that the six days of labor per week is mandatory...do you?......

So does history matter? What is our obligation to study history if any?

[Liz]

I grew up in public schools. They way they teach History it really confused me. Since, they didn't teach Bible, I thought that Bible stuff happened first, then all the History we had to learn in school. Then the way they actually taught History was confusing, they didn't do it in a natural time line order, they would teach Early American History, then the Middle Ages, then Man's Early History--Mesoptamia that sort of thing, then back to WWI and WWII, then the early pioneers and finally Texas History.

It is no wonder people at large don't know their History the way they should, it was so muddled and to confusing.

Happily I homeschool and found a wonderful curriculum that I am teaching to my own kids, we are all learning History together. And I am finally able to put the bits and pieces that I did learn into their proper place and perspective.

What was your question??

Oh yes, History does matter and we should study it so we will know what is coming. I don't remember who said it but it went something like, "Those who don't know History are doomed to repeat it".

[Joe_in_RP]

Quote:

Oh yes, History does matter and we should study it so we will know what is coming.

So it does matter.

[John317]

Yeah, George Santayana.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Gotta not only know history-- know the facts of it-- but gotta be able to learn lessons from it.

[Joe_in_RP]

[phkrause]

I believe that we should all be interested in History. Not just history taught in school but bible history as well. I also went to public school all the way thru to the eleventh grade, than on to 1 year of GNYA. In public school in NY they separated world history from american history. I was very fortunate that I also belonged to a Jewish Adventist Church. Our Pastor had many evangelistic meetings, in the Times Square Center, down in Manhattan, NY for the Jewish people. It was basicly Daniel and Revelation, but I learned my bible history in those meetings and was able to put what I had learned in High School together with what I learned in those meeting. So in one respect we as SDAs have an advantage over many other's who do not study the bible.

pk

[carolaa]

"Those who don't know History are doomed to repeat it".

That's a great saying that I've quoted often, but I'm beginning to think mankind is going to repeat history whether we know history or not. I mean, everybody knows about the Holocaust, and yet genocide continues all over the world. I think we're just evil to the core.

[carolaa]

I grew up in public schools. They way they teach History it really confused me. Since, they didn't teach Bible, I thought that Bible stuff happened first, then all the History we had to learn in school. Then the way they actually taught History was confusing, they didn't do it in a natural time line order, they would teach Early American History, then the Middle Ages, then Man's Early History--Mesoptamia that sort of thing, then back to WWI and WWII, then the early pioneers and finally Texas History.

It is no wonder people at large don't know their History the way they should, it was so muddled and to confusing.

Happily I homeschool and found a wonderful curriculum that I am teaching to my own kids, we are all learning History together. And I am finally able to put the bits and pieces that I did learn into their proper place and perspective.

Yeah, I think they pretty much do "units" and so it's not in a timeline. Units can be a fun way to learn, but I don't like it, either, when things aren't in order. Cause and effect is a big deal in most history classes, and how can you know cause and effect when things are taught out of order?

I was fascinated this past week as we were studying Texas history to discover that our former Governor Davis (1870) was practically a dictator. Many of the things he did reminded me of things that are being done (or attempted) on the national level today. And it hit me that our current administration is from Texas - hmmmmm.

What history curriculum are you using?

[doctorj]

I don't really think school kids really understand History because they just don't have enough of life's experiences to properly put it all together. Most people I speak to don't really understand History until they are adults and have a much wider perspective on life. BUT History is important and should be a subject all adults should consider studying . . . it is then that we can make the most of what there is on offer in teaching us lessons from History.

[phkrause]

CoAspen, are you thinking of the New York Center? It was about 3 or for blocks north east of the times square center. If I remember correctly the TSC was on 45th and 9th ave, and the NYC was on 47th and 8th ave. I also believe that the NYC was sold a few years ago and than in turn bought the TSC and renamed it. Not sure of the new name.

pk

[nuff sed]

227 W.46th St.......................I lived there(rent free) just before they started remodeling it. No heat.....I moved out when they turned off the water..

[phkrause]

Hey gladussee, when did you live there. My brother-in-law, John Altman, lived there back around 1971-72. And yes your right it was 46th street.

pk

[phkrause]

Yes that was the Times Square Center alright. I moved up to Massachusetts in March of 73, to work at the College Press of AUC.

pk

[Liz]

What history curriculum are you using?

We are using Mystery of History; and loving it.

[Bravus]

History is important, but in the sense not just of knowing a series of dates and events, but of understanding history as a narrative, how it is constructed, whose stories are selected and for what purposes. 'The Great Controversy' is a very nice example of a narrative approach to history where a particular framing concept (the one in the title) gives meaning to each of the individual events recounted. Every history is similar in this sense.

There has been a debate in Australia about the teaching of history in schools. Our former Prime Minister, Mr Howard, advocated the teaching of Australian history, but it was the kind I learned in the 70s - the triumphal history of brave white explorers arriving in an empty and harsh land and conquering it. He decried what he called the 'black armband' view of Australia's history that focused more on the invasion of an established country by white imperialists and the slaughter and displacement of the indigenous population.

Of course, all of the incidents in both versions of Australia's history did occur. So in teaching history, some selection needs to be made, and some meaningful frame given to the incidents. A balanced view would include some of each narrative, and would perhaps attempt to understand the perspectives of all the participants (or representatives), and to look at the different values of the early English settlers and the convicts versus those of the Aboriginal people and the Chinese settlers during the Gold Rush, and the Irish settlers and ex-convicts who rebelled at the Eureka Stockade and from which stock Ned Kelly and many of the other bushrangers were drawn.

All history is too impossibly rich for us - we have to make selections of what to tell and how to tell it. At its best it can help us to avoid the wrongs and crimes of the past, not least by helping us to understand and avoid the kinds of belief frameworks that enabled those crimes. It can also make us aware of the diversity and complexity of the human heart, and show us how similar and how different to one another we are.