History, is it important to you?

[EvilNed]

Do you guys think it's important that we teach our youth history? Do you guys personally know alot about history? Do you think schools should cut down or size-up history classes?

[RustyHicks]

I think it's good to teach history that is relevant to our times. Like the history of world war 1 and 2, the 60's freedom rallies, blacks fighting for the right to vote, Martin Luther King, JFK, but anything like the pilgrams coming to America, the way the earth was formed, how Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor should be optional classes that students want to take. I think it should be taugh in grammar school, but once you reach high school I think it should be optional, if you're interested in history, but not forced on the student cause they need it for their diploma.

[bassman]

I say teach them history so they won't make the same mistakes. Not that it will help that much....

[MissJacksonCA]

Well that depends... are we teaching actual history or the bullcrap they teach in todays classrooms? I love history I think its fun to learn what really happened even though they almost never teach that. My breaking point was writing a report on Paul Revere and how he never actually made his midnight run because he was in bed with his whore so ... yeah... F on that one... I also think we should teach how our wonderful Pilgrims killed off the Buffalo to try to starve the Indians and when that didn't work we gave them smallpox... and how our Presidents past had slaves with whom they kept as mistresses... I mean we should be objective about history not sugar coating it... I do feel history is an essential element towards a good education from grammar school through til graduation. If people aren't interested in it its a damn shame. However like all classes in high school there should be degrees of history offered... like remedial history... CP and AP... in my school junior year somehow there was remedial history and then Principles of Economics was the CP version... not sure how that worked out but hey... fun times either way... On a personal level history is important to me. Whether its the history of the world, my country, my parents homeland, or even just family history... its all pretty damned important to me. I never would've imagined some of the stuff i've learned about my family but it kinda makes me like them more even if I can't stand them. And I just think actual history is better than a madeup book. Especially history about Magellan ... that **** was awesome. Fortunately for me my dad's idea of punishment was asssigning 'reaserch papers' or doing something educational that wasn't asked of me by my school... his punishment wound up enlightening me to the wonders of history and a few other things... as much of a jackass he is I at least thank him for that.

[Maitreya]

If you ask me, history is one of the best subjects that a school could have and I 100% support having it a requirement to graduate. I realize it won't be as effective as a college history class that tells you quite a bit more (Our disgusting acts in Vietnam, the Philippines, Hawaii, and various other areas, good things unpopular presidents did, as well as horrible things that popular presidents did), but people really need someplace to go from. Plus History is so cyclical that if somebody has a good head on their shoulders they'll see when they're making a mistake, but on the other hand, as bassman said, there's a fat chance of that happening...

[RustyHicks]

If you ask me, history is one of the best subjects that a school could have and I 100% support having it a requirement to graduate. I realize it won't be as effective as a college history class that tells you quite a bit more (Our disgusting acts in Vietnam, the Philippines, Hawaii, and various other areas, good things unpopular presidents did, as well as horrible things that popular presidents did), but people really need someplace to go from. Plus History is so cyclical that if somebody has a good head on their shoulders they'll see when they're making a mistake, but on the other hand, as bassman said, there's a fat chance of that happening... Good point. We should try and learn from our mistakes, but sometimes people think they can do better and won't make the same mistake.

[MinionZombie]

British history classes need to focus more on an overall knowledge of history, rather than: World War 1 and 2 The Tudor's and Stewarts Calvinism (the odd difference here and there) That's pretty much all you learn for 7 freaking years at high school (and sixth form). I know barely anything about over all history, and what I did learn at school is all leaking out of my head, most already gone because you're not taught to retain knowledge, merely to cram information for an exam, then cram new info for a different exam. It's never for the attainment of knowledge, just the passing of exams (which now are all fudged results because apparently exam result averages are never allowed to drop from one year to the next ). Basically, what we need is broad understandings of topics, then you can choose what you want to learn about in a more in depth manner afterwards, not knowing every intimate detail about 4 moments in history. Yaboo sucks to the British education system!

[EvilNed]

In Sweden in high school we got to vote for what history period we wanted to learn more about. Some set periods were set in stone (we had to learn them) such as WW1 and Cold War. Reason for not learning WW2 is because that's repeated to us every year prior to that. But albeit that is very democratic, some kids just don't know what to vote for or what. For instance, one girl voted learning about Japanese history. That's when I stood up and said that if we're gonna learn something about history, we should learn something about value. What value does Japanese feudal history have? Not dissing it or anything, but we live in Sweden and what an isolated country did durin the 16th to 19th centuries has MINIMAL priority over what we should learn in such an already limited course. In the end, we learned about how the first civilizations sprung to life, which I thought was a good choice. We briefly ran through the rest of history also, of course. If you wanted a deeper historical education, it was optional.

[coma]

School, for me, was about the lowest common denominator. That means, we went as fast as the slowest kids. So, in world history, we never got more than halfway through China. No Japan, no Africa, No WW2 (!!!), a smidge of WWI. Zero about Russia and No mention of Vietnam, which was still continuing my first couple years of school. They told me to not read ahead in the books but I did anyway because they would never get to it. Its was mostly American History like Mercantilism and the boston Tea party. That said, I love real history. My first college class was American History 101 and the teacher was an Indian guy with a Bad Accent I could hardly understand. However, he went off on all these atrocities in US history like Native American genocide and Roosevelt's takeover of the Philippines and on and on. I never heard of most of the detail if at all in school. I thought "Foreign America hating asshole". I was only 17 and was interested in history very much but my awareness of real in depth options for study were pretty much non existant. Then this Korean kid gave me The Peoples history of the United States by Howard Zinn and it all came together for me. I knew something was wrong I just didnt know exactly what. I read previously about stuff like The triangle shirtwaist fire and labor struggle but it was hard to get the whole backstory. My Grand mothers Early life in America and my own observations of how things were working informed me that we were being handed some major bullsh!t but I couldnt put my finger on exactly what. I think history is very important because without the chronology and the big picture you cant really tell exactly how you are being f**ked by the old boys. Of course profound historical achievement is important as well so you can learn from it and gain inspiration. Bottom line. Public education is gov sponsored and they are always going to candy coat, omit or flat out lie. It is an individual's responsibility to seek the truth from multiple sources. Thats easy for me, however, because I actually enjoy it.

[Cody]

I love history. It doesnt seem like its needed to survive in the real word. With out it though how coudld people get interested in archeology? etc..

[Danny]

British history classes need to focus more on an overall knowledge of history, rather than: World War 1 and 2 The Tudor's and Stewarts Calvinism (the odd difference here and there) That's pretty much all you learn for 7 freaking years at high school (and sixth form). I know barely anything about over all history, and what I did learn at school is all leaking out of my head, most already gone because you're not taught to retain knowledge, merely to cram information for an exam, then cram new info for a different exam. It's never for the attainment of knowledge, just the passing of exams (which now are all fudged results because apparently exam result averages are never allowed to drop from one year to the next ). Basically, what we need is broad understandings of topics, then you can choose what you want to learn about in a more in depth manner afterwards, not knowing every intimate detail about 4 moments in history. Yaboo sucks to the British education system! he beat me to it but yeah, i used to love history and chose it for gcse and all i got was 5 years of nazis and the cold war, what about oh i dont know the thousands of years of human civilisation before henry the 8th? but would there be arguments in u.s schools over the whole creation of the earth thing?

[acealive1]

they need to teach more history. how about how george washington wasnt the first president and the east and west side of the country couldnt agree on a damn thing. and that the first president is on the back of the 2 dollar bill. or how bout how lincoln wasnt for freeing the slaves.............and the rumor he was half black

[Danny]

i allways thought he had a slightly native american look to him. san the giant "slash hat" adn amish beard.

[MinionZombie]

I'd say with Creationism, that sort of thing belongs (if anywhere) exclusively in Religious Education classes, taught alongside stuff about other religions as well, not just a grooming ground for Christians. It certainly is NOT science, and likewise it's not history, because history - like science - has tangible evidence to back it up, there's excavations, discoveries, the crumblings bones of people of the past and so on... Besides, I think religion should be a personal choice type of thing, probably not a good idea in schools. Mind you, here I am - an Atheist - and I did the Religious Education GCSE, lol. Well...I ended up doing it (another exam for year 11 ) purely because I got to stay in the class with my mates, rather than going into the other class next door which was full of people I hated. But then I'm also of the breed who thinks people should choose a religion for themselves, rather than it being forced on them as a kid, when they just accept anything their parents tell them...at least, that's my personal view. To each their own I say, just as long as what I don't like doesn't encroach on me. And in cockney rhyming slang (of sorts) - hairy muff. (fair enough)

[EvilNed]

In Sweden we actually get to study ever other religion OTHER than Christianity. Why? Because they assumed we already knew all about it, and it was mostly true. It's heavily embedded in western society.