Why should we study history? - Warren Hills Regional ...

[Pages:5]9/4/2013

Why should we study history?

"THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT" - GEORGE SANTAYANA

Material taken from "Teaching What Really Matters" by James Loewen.

#1

Causation

A. HISTORY HELPS YOU BE BETTER CITIZENS BY ENABLING YOU TO

UNDERSTAND WHAT CAUSES WHAT IN SOCIETY.

B. EVEN WHEN AN EVENT SEEMS TO BE NEW, THE CAUSES OF THE ACTS AND FEELINGS ARE DEEPLY EMBEDDED IN

THE PAST. THUS, TO UNDERSTAND AN EVENT (AN ELECTION, AN ACT OF

TERROR, A POLICY DECISION, ETC.) WE MUST START IN THE PAST.

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#2

Critical Thinking

A. HISTORY HELPS YOU BECOME CRITICAL THINKERS ABOUT THE

PAST AND PRESENT.

B. SOMETIMES NO ONE KNOWS THE RIGHT ANSWER.

#3

History is a weapon!!

A. KNOWING AND CORRECTLY UNDERSTANDING THE PAST WILL

ENABLE YOU TO SEE THROUGH FABRICATIONS AND

OVERSIMPLIFICATIONS. A. UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST EMPOWERS YOU TO ARGUE FOR

BETTER POLICIES IN THE PRESENT.

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#4

To resist your stereotype.

A. AS THE WEALTHIEST, MOST CULTURALLY INFLUENTIAL AND MILITARILY

POWERFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, WE ARE INEVITABLY ETHNOCENTRIC.

B. ETHNOCENTRIC ? THE BELIEF THAT ONE'S OWN CULTURE IS THE BEST, AND THAT OTHERS SHOULD BE RANKED BY

HOW MUCH THEY RESEMBLE OURS.

#5

To resist sociology.

A. SOCIOLOGY - SOCIAL STRUCTURE PUSHES PEOPLE AROUND, INFLUENCES

THEIR CAREERS, AND EVEN AFFECTS HOW THEY THINK.

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#6

To be honest.

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TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PAST CAN HELP US MAKE IT RIGHT FROM HERE ON.

#7To be smarter than Britney Spears.

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#8

Howard Zinn: History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of

checking up on it.

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