Why are history classes so important?

Question

I am always told so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past, but that makes it sound as if they believe those of us who will not go into politics or the military will cause massive wars. Even one of my history teachers told me that he only got his masters in history because he thought it was interesting and could not think of an actual use for history in day to day life.

Answer 1

Currant division between Russia and Western Europe stem from the Cold War which had it's origin at the end of WW2 which was started due to the Treaty of Versailles which was the result of WW1 which had its immediate origin in Serbian nationalism which played a part in.....can I stop?



Current day event have their first seeds planted over a hundred years ago so it's useful to have even basic history to give you context of the world and how we ended up here.



But the real use of History classes, in context of how easy it is to look up history online, is to develop critical thinking skills. Developing the ability to analysis and evaluation to form a judgement on a topic. I'll give you an example of an assessment I did at college (I studied to be a History teacher). We had to choose either a primary or secondary piece of evidence and evaluate its usefulness to historian. I choose All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque so I had look in and evaluate accuracy, bias, how it would be useful, what was its limitations, learn about the author and his experiences. You had to think a little more than just writing down date and what happened. Some of the other student choose ancient mosaics which required much more.



SO that's why history is so important in schools. Not only does it give you a basic outlook on history for you to go on but it is a very good way of developing skills that are important in just about any situation or job.

Answer 2

Your teacher doesn't think about politics much. Why is there so much friction and anger between conservatives and liberals? You start with current arguments, but you find that the problems have been around for a long time. You also find that labels have a way of shifting - the Democrats of 1900 were far different than they are today, and that change is interesting.

Military history is invaluable if you want to be an officer.

History does repeat itself in the sense that the same kind of bone headed people make the same mistakes over and over. Individuals are legion, but types of people are not. Our sleazy politicians, redneck *sses, xenophobic demagogues and greedy destroyers of the environment never leave us.

I see history everywhere I look, from the story of popular music to the earliest human remains. History is not just the story of humanity, it's the story of the world too.

Answer 3

No serious historian thinks that we study history "to avoid the mistakes of the past." There are many excellent reasons to study history:



You can't be an informed citizen and cast an informed vote without knowing the history of your own country and locality.



The kinds of research and writing that you do in history classes gives you critical-thinking skills and argumentative skills that you can use in any profession and in your personal life.



History teaches us about different human cultures so that we don't all turn into racist Trumpanzee KKK Nazis.



There are many more good reasons to study history. I'm sorry you have such an idiot for a teacher (if you are in fact quoting him correctly, which you probably aren't.).



So if you think history isn't useful, then what do you think IS useful? Memorizing the phrase "duh yuh want fries wit' that?" and repeating it 1,000 times a day for 60 years? Yeah, that's useful.

Answer 4

Everyone needs to understand how things are. You learn that by learning how things got that way. That's what history is.

Answer 5

If for no other reason, so you don't vote for crummy candidates or fall for economic bubbles. Evidently we have some more studying yet to do.

Answer 6

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat their mistakes. Those who do study history, are doomed to watch others repeat them.

Answer 7

world History is



american History Little use outside the USA

Answer 8

hi