Due January 27, 2015 – New Policy

“Hunter Huss IB Readings”

January 23, 2015 Due January 27, 2015 – New Policy

Last blog post had 17 responses. Pitiful, never seen that before in 10 years of this blog. When I ask students why they would take a 0, I get three main answers. 1. its only a 10% homework grade, it doesn’t really matter. 2. Its boring topics and stupid articles. or 3. It’s too liberal (really only Adam answered that). So, in order to change that:

1. I will RANDOMNLY choose one post a month and make it a quiz grade. And, in order to stay inline with the grading policy, NO LATE POSTS, NO RE POSTS WEEKS LATER FOR SOME CREDIT, and NO EXCEPTIONS!!!! You will NOT be told which is a quiz grade until the month ends, and since there will be no makeups, you will get a 0 on a quiz grade. My old grading system was more inline with college, 25/25/50 but of course that was in a time when teachers were actually trusted to know something about education. Since some are quiz grades, though, of course there will be more reading involved in ALL of the posts. And trust me, I will grade them by a rubric of 1. Discussion of topic 2. New ideas presented after previous posts. 3. Citation of all sources. 4. Subjectively – did the student read all of the articles, contribute to the discussion, and present new ideas. Homework will also be graded by this rubric. If the past is any indication, there will be a lot less A’s.

2. I have always said “If you come up with a good topic, good articles, and good questions, you will get both the blog credit and extra credit. Amazing how nobody has ever done that other than Meli Fonseca after she graduated.

3. If you think its “too liberal” then I would ask you to go back and actually read the articles. There are ALWAYS multiple viewpoints. Of course, if you call the Wall Street Journal or Forbes magazine liberal than you really have NO CLUE about what is liberal and conservative.

That said, I thought about blogging something involving cheating and the NFL, but I am sick of talking about cheating. Many of you have no problem with it, and, not to sound like a geezer, cheating was not acceptable in my time and is not one of the foundations our democracy was built on, but it is the foundation of our economic system (the rich are “winners” no matter how they got there), so I can understand why Americans have the moral perversion of cheating. But not all of us 🙂 And, trust me, your college professors are not on any level going to tolerate it and you WILL be expelled. More embarrassing than flunking out or quitting (though they are embarrassing and expensive too).

Michael asks “why do they even make us take history classes.” Completely reasonable question, especially during ToK. So, I guess you can answer that question by reading AND citing the following articles. Also, answer, how much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools – America as exceptional and great, or America as great but with a sometimes flawed history. That debate is actually being raged in front of the NC school board as we write. So, 2 questions, three articles – is this the quiz grade or is it the one with only 17 responses? Oh, its random 🙂

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # brooksdeanna0530 said

I would like to start this off by saying, blogposts aren’t bad, and honestly it helps us open our eyes to the viewpoints of not just ourselves, but also the people around us’s viewpoints. Now to the real topic at hand, “why do we even take history classes.” Before I even read the articles, I want to state what came to my mind when I read that. Honestly, as a country how do we learn to prevent future problems, by learning from our mistakes. Our history is not all mistakes, but from how we have conducted ourselves through the years, has taught us how we should conduct ourselves in the future. I also believe the “truth” should be taught, we shouldn’t hide the truth, the truth has lead us to where we are today.
“Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.”http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history In the first article it stated this, it goes along with my belief.
” But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor.” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
Noblitt is not a horrible instructor, I think he is actually very good, yes there is a lot of reading, but at the same time, reading the book before he starts to go over it gives you the chance to have a basis of knowledge before he starts. Then you can ask questions, and not sit there going “What the hell is he talking about.” Plus Noblitt goes into details, ad uses examples that helps us fully understand. I like his way of teaching.
“Her criticism of the new AP U.S. history curriculum comes as the Jefferson County School Board made national and international news for proposing to review the AP instructional material and, as suggested by school board member Julie Williams, with an eye to replace it with a curriculum that avoids encouraging “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law,” and instead promotes positive aspects of the nation’s history. Students and teachers have walked out in protest.” http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily Here proves my point that not everybody deciphers history the same way, but through facts you can learn to decide the truth from the lies..
My viewpoint, you may not agree with me.

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Permalink # chrisbonilla0430 said

Even though taking history may be boring, I know that it is a necessity in school. All of history leads us to the point in time that we are in. History has made us who we are today. “…acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives…” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) By learning about history, we , as humans, are able to understand why the things that are happening in this time are happening. The second article says, “To know yourself means to be aware of what it is that makes you who you are. And in this respect, the one thing which reveals this knowledge is history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I agree with what this says. History, to an extent, makes you who you are today. The third article says that history is basically the stories of humans who have conquered and suffered. These stories are passed down from generation to generation, becoming part of people shaping them into what they are today. I mean, without the teachings on history, we’ll get people like Pam Mazanec, who say stuff like, “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) Apperently she doesn’t understand what caused the end of slavery in the United States, and for that, it shows what type of person she is. She’s pushing for the AP US History curriculum to be more positive on how America has become what it is today. I think that she is wrong. The history curriculum in US public schools should have ALL of the history. The good, the bad, and everything in between. Why should we “protect” smart, knowledge-seeking students from the reality of the world? History should be taught from all viewpoints. Not just the good, not just the bad, but both. Without the full story, we wouldn’t understand why we are the way we are today.

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Permalink # taylorwatkins said

Why should we study history?

We should study history so we can “acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) History is not just textbooks and documentaries for everyone. Some people like to know the history of art or food. But there is a basis for history that everyone needs to know so that they can be a knowledgable person of society.
“Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) Some of us might not like history but there’s nothing that we can do about it. Any profession that we want to go into has history, even flipping burgers at McDonalds. History is everywhere in our lives and we have to accept it.

How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools?

I think that all of the truth of history should be taught. Why are kids going to want to sit in a class for 90 minutes for 5 months and be lied to? We have a right to be taught, by our teachers the whole truth of hisotry. On many tests we see that history answer that we know ““portrays the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)
““As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)

I enjoy studying history and I think that we need to study history to maintain a decent society and also so we can understand our past and why things are the way that they are today.
I also beleive that in school we have a right to be taught the whole truth about our history. As kids we learn from what our teachers teach us so it is their job to be 100% honest with us. Being taught the whole truth of our history might help us appreciate history more and the history of our nation more.

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Permalink # christopherdavis429 said

Why should we study history? “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
By this the author means that studying history is vital information that every human being should know. History helps the individual to understand where they came from, and where they fit in. By fit in, i mean where they belong ethically and socially. Without history the person that denies or doesn’t understand, would feel lost and uncertain of their part in the world.
“By studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history.”http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
Almost everything has history, everything from wars to ancient civilizations. By history the user begins to develop critical thinking skills and become more knowledgeable about things that affect them personally.
I believe that the truth should be taught in public schools. Even the ugly parts of history, by taking the bad parts of history out of history itself, they are not protecting children in contrast its hurting them. http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
“The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history.”
First off slavery wasn’t given up voluntarily. The U.S itself was divided and for her to say the U.S. as a whole is just ridiculous. Volunteer, means to work for free the lives of many Americans whether it was the north or south wasn’t given free, the price was death.

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Permalink # gingerrrmaddie722 said

Why are we studying anything besides history? It’s all irrelevant stuff once you get past the basics. Like math. hahaha Just kidding. No but really, all of these advanced science and math classes I’ve been taking for the IB Diploma probably won’t help me in my career. However, they do help on Trivia Crack, so whatever.

History is interesting, it’s all about the stories of how we got where we are today. It’s not concrete. You can’t plug in certain things to get a specific event. You can speculate, but you can’t be 100% because you weren’t there and you didn’t see it for yourself. It’s debatable. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and as long as you can back it up with facts, you can sell that opinion. For instance, our Cold War presentations, it didn’t really matter who we said was responsible as long as we used the events and documents to prove it. Also, there are new discoveries all the time, so you really can learn something new everyday. However, history is more than just stories. It requires critical thinking and analytical skills to use primary sources to work towards figuring out what really happened. “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)

“Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, numbers, races, windsurfing, coal miners, pencils, motherhood and yes, even toilet-training…It was not enough to know something. You had to know why you knew it.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I also agree with the instructor part. From kindergarten until 11th grade, I just knew I wanted to be an elementary school teacher because I loved school and loved learning. Last year I realized that I just don’t really like little kids like that but I still love education. I decided I wanted to teach at an age where I could make a difference and have real conversations with my students, which would be around the high school and college ages. Our history class has ended up being the only class I actually enjoy going to, as far as content goes. I’ve always liked history because it was always easy for me. Up until last year, all a history class ever consisted of was memorizing dates and crap like that. Then we got to Noblitt’s class and started reading books about what we were learning, doing blog posts about current events, having important and relevant class discussions and the tests became essays instead of multiple-choice. Once I had to actually start applying myself and doing more than memorizing, I realized the real reason why I always made good grades in my history classes.

The truth should be taught in school. All of it. Why sugarcoat things? If we aren’t teaching the truth about what happened in our country’s past, but other countries are teaching American history, assuming they learn about America like we learn about Germany, Russia, England, etc., then how does that make us look? Answer: It makes us look like Pam Mazanec of Colorado. Really, Pam? I guess she didn’t pay attention when her class learned about the Civil War, or maybe that class didn’t talk about that was truthfully. ““The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The United States engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it,” said Stephanie Rossi an AP U.S. history teacher at Wheat Ridge High School. “I’m just flabbergasted at anyone who would make that claim. Flabbergasted.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). If we don’t teach the truth about our own history, then the rest of the world will be flabbergasted by all of us too. America is great, but we have our flaws, just as every other country does. Why shouldn’t we own up to them? It’s one thing to admit we were wrong, but it’s completely different if we sweep our past under the rug and act like nothing happened. That’s when people get hurt. Everyone deserves to know the truth.

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Permalink # hopehayes said

Why do we take history classes? “we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
Even though I have never liked history and it’s boring most of the time to me it is needed. As the quote above says we study history to know about human experience. History is just the past that no one cares about. History is the reason for why things are in our life now and we need to know it so we don’t repeat the bad of it. “If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect.”
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
Yes not every thing has been learned as a mistake of the past and it has repeated. Although maybe this could be that history was not taught well enough or it may have been “sugar coated”.
I personally think nothing should be sugar coated especially in history. So what there has been a bad history in America but if you don’t know about it then how will things ever be able to improve? As stated here, “portray the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.”, it isn’t that it is negative it’s that it is the truth as shown with facts! http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
History isn’t about what you want to here it is about the past and what lead to today. If a person does not know about history they will most likely never be able to have a conversation of knowledge and just sound stupid when they try to talk about things of history and they are wrong and make no sense.

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Permalink # kellylopez315 said

Why must we study history? The answer: to learn where we come from. To learn what our country and other countries have done in the past. Whether it be their failures, mistakes, or victories. We learn what has formed our country and the world with history. “…as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives” (Why Study History? | AHA
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)
We also learn how we have progressed. All the wars America battled in order to live the way we do today. “What could history offer the business major? the student intending to study web page development? the student taking her first psychology class? or pre-med student? or the lawyer? or the worker on the shop floor? Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not.” (A Student’s Guide: Why Study History?
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html)
Basically anything that you study, you have to know its history before anything else. This shows another important reason as to why we should have more knowledge in history.
I believe that schools should include ALL parts of history. More specially, American schools should teach all parts of their history and not try to sugarcoat anything. Students need to know that America has made mistakes and failed many times.
“The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The United States engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it,” said Stephanie Rossi an AP U.S. history teacher” (State Board of Ed member: ‘U.S. ended slavery voluntarily’ | The Colorado Independent
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) Again with the sugar coating. It shouldn’t happen to begin with. As stated in this insert from article. The U.S. did not voluntarily give up slavery what so ever.

Side Note: Wasn’t too sure where to submit ideas, but I thought of it a few weeks ago. Gun control: How much is too much and how much is too little? Can we meet an equal medium with it. Should people be allowed to carry their weapons while walking around a grocery store? (Sorry if you have done this before. Thought it would be a good topic.)

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Permalink # shatonia4398 said

Why do they make us take history?

In my opinion, we have to take history classes in order to graduate.http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

We also have to take it because it’s important to know the things that happened before we were even thought of. Why do we have freedom? Why are blacks and whites allowed to go to the same school? History gives us the answer to these questions. Yes, some things in history are boring, but there are some things that are very interesting. I believe that some students don’t like history because they have always had to remember names and dates. That’s a lot to remember. Like Mr. Noblitt said, it’s not always about remembering names and dates, it should be about analyzing the information that you read.

I think that America as great, but with a sometimes flawed history should be taught in public schools. Imagine being taught that America is great and exceptional. Yeah, it sounds positive, but our minds would be led in the wrong direction. Nothing is perfect, so it is very important that we learn about the flaws in history.

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Permalink # sarahpickert15 said

History is. . .“The bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians, together with everything that is involved in the production, communication of, and teaching about that knowledge” (http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Whatishistory/marwick1.html). . .according to Professor Arthur Marwick.

Why do they even make us take history classes? Well said Michael. I often wonder this of any class. “. . .to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. . .and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history). I like the way Peter Stearns answered this question. It is relatively accurate, at least to me. History has more than once altered/enhanced my opinion on multiple events. Not only does history inform, it shows us where we come from and the things we have overcome throughout the centuries, some good some not so good.

“What could history offer the business major? the student intending to study web page development? the student taking her first psychology class? or pre-med student? or the lawyer? or the worker on the shop floor? Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history. Try hard as we might, we can’t escape the past. We can’t let go of the past. And we celebrate the past all the time” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html). I also really like this quote from the second article. I have always wanted to know what certain classes really mattered for my future but history is always a constant. There is history in every subject. You have to be aware of the already known formulas and how they came about before you can enhance it or find an easier solution. Like the quote I stated first, history involves everything in the production, communication and teaching about the knowledge. This references every subject and how it became known, its history.

“Patrick Demmer. . .longtime civil rights activist, said Mazanec’s take on slavery shows ‘she’s willfully ignorant at best or she is racially disingenuous at worst’” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). America as great but with a sometimes flawed history, that’s who we are as a country. That’s how every country is, none are perfect in their history. However, history allows us to be aware of these flaws, though it is our choice to either enhance it for the future or throw it all away and decide we’re too good for that. Which is how it seems the majority of the time today. History in schools should be taught the way it happened. Why sugar coat it now?

(I am also going to share my Google doc for the blog posts because apparently you are not getting some of them, hopefully this one works)

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Permalink # slademoss said

Why do we have to take History classes?
The first article I read was the following, http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1998)
There are many reasons why history is important that is outlined in this source. The reasons I agree with are as follows, History Helps Us Understand People and Societies, The Importance of History in Our Own Lives, and History Contributes to Moral Understanding. There are 3 other reasons outlined in this article of why History is important that I don’t really agree with so I won’t include them. But in my opinion history is very useful in many other ways. It helps us both outline and look at the events in the past with detail. By doing this we can understand why the events happened and how they could be prevented. History greatly improves our understanding and thinking from multiple perspectives abilities. In history there are usually two or more sides to every story so we have to decipher which side is the correct side and to try and understand why each side of conflicts did what they did. This greatly increases our level of thinking as students.
The next article on the list is the folllowing, http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
After reading this article, I came to a very basic a summed up conclusion of what this man was saying. He is saying History is the key component for ‘understanding’. He outlines in many different ways and in many different situations this belief. He is saying in order to completely understand something, you must know its history. I actually agree with this statement wholeheartedly, because if you don’t understand how something became what it is today then you don’t completely understand that something. One just can’t label Hitler as a bad man until they know what things he has done to make him a bad man. And since he must do these things before he can be labeled a bad man then these events occur prior to him being labeled a bad man. Which, in turn, makes these events history since they happen before he is labeled a bad man. That is just one of the many simple examples I could make from this statement of why the History of something is needed for its complete understanding.

How much of the ‘truth’ in history should be taught in American schools?
The article that pertained to this question is the following, http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
I just want to say after this little statement this woman’s political career could be over xD. I don’t even think this is a question, it’s just one answer. I’m not sitting in school for over 7 hours to hear somebody lie to me. I don’t want to receive false information from a teacher, book, or anything else. I like the cold hard facts. History is all tied together with each event leading to another event like knots tied on a rope. Once some of these facts started to get turned around then the events begin to not make sense so they then don’t tie together. Then you’re left wondering well how was this a result of that and why did all these people feel so outraged if it happened this way. Another thing, the school board would basically be saying its ok to lie. I’m glad that’s what they want to teach America, hell may as well do it because so many people lie about everything nowadays it’ll barely make a difference.
The true history and events of the past must be taught in school, botht the goods and the bads, it’s as simple as that.

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Permalink # geraldinmartinez015 said

“why do they even make us take history classes.”?
Before citing the articles and talking about what I’ve learned after reading them on why we take history classes i want to say something. I strongly believe that history repeats itself. a lot of people don’t believe this because they just think life goes by as each day past but little do they know that things repeat. for example, if we ask a 50 year old lady right now that what type of clothing style she used in her youth days she would say she used to wear what our generation is wearing right now. so this is why i strongly believe that history repeats!
So now on the article ….. “we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
By taking history classes we learn a lot about what happened in the past,all the wars, all the events that took place at a certain time but most important from all of this is we earn more knowledge about life itself. we have more things to think about and some things about history gets so interested to learn about it more.

“You may also have heard that everything repeats itself, so if we study the past, we can be sure to know something of the future.”..http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
When we study history we can be more open-eyed-ed about things that happen in this world.. we can have more protection about things that crazy people might do in this crazy world. A good example about being prepared for anything is the incident of 9/11. After that accident this security in the airports became way more strict!! the searches before you enter the country are way more intensive and i can tell you this from experience because i see it with my own eyes when i travel.

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
Some of us just take history as a joke.. just dont care about it at all because we think that it does not have anything to do with us, as some of us say the past is the past soooo leave it in the past! just take history in high school because we have to in able to graduate high school… at the end of the day as long as we pass the class it wont effect us … < they say! but little do they know that by them knowing history can help them a lot in the future.

Personally i enjoy history class because it teaches me the things or another country… i don't only enjoy it because what i learn are facts but also because the teacher (Mr.Noblitt) is real! he don't hold nothing back, he just say it as it is…don't sugar quote nothing and that's the best thing about it.

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Permalink # augustjones said

“Why do they make us take history classes?”
I say this in the manner because it is required for us to graduate. Not only that, but it teaches us about the past. “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history I say that everybody should know a little about the past and what has happened in the world. History is not my favorite subject, but some things really catch my eye. For example, I like learning about the Holocaust and different wars. By studying history, it can make us more aware of what has happened in the past and what might can happen in the future.
“by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html I think that teachers should teach the honest truth about history. Without knowing the real truth behind history, we wouldn’t know what is going on. If teachers taught us fake stuff, it wouldn’t be fun to learn, and of course it would be pointless. I think it is very important for teachers to teach us the truth about history, and all the details behind it. Every kid in the world should have at least a little bit of knowledge about history and its past. Ever kid should be taught history for different reasons.The reasons I agree that history is important is because: History Helps Us Understand societies and people, and the Importance of history in our own life’s. Liveshttp://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # carsonrobinson16 said

I would like to start off by saying, when you actually sit down and do the blog posts the right way, it’s not bad at all. So from now on I never plan on taking a zero on a simple assignment. Now back to the task at hand. Prior to reading the articles, I thought to myself “Why history?”. My answer may be slightly bias because it’s my favorite subject, but I feel like we need it. Not only does it add to your education as a whole, but you can learn a lot from it. However, my opinion on why it is studied sort of changed after reading the articles.
“When we study it reasonably well, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” ~ Peter Stearns
This argues that history, when studied well, makes us better citizens and more aware. Not only that, but it gives us more critical thinking skills. A skill that everybody can never have enough of.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

“Let’s face it, our first experience with history is that it’s a course that we have to take in order to graduate. We didn’t have a choice. And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.”
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
“Why history?” This question is asked by students who are forces into taking history classes as a graduation requirement. Because they aren’t given a choice they are automatically bias towards it. If given the choice, it is possible more students wouldn’t be as apprehensive towards it. It was also mentioned in this article that history isn’t learning from the past to predict the future, but to learn about yourself. You must know where you’ve came from to know where you’re going.

The great debate in history right now is whether it should be taught truthfully. Whether it is “America the exceptional and great” or “America as great but with a sometimes flawed history”. In Colorado, Board of Education member Pam Mazanec is leaning towards America the great and exceptional. “Yes we practiced slavery, but we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many other countries still today.” (Mazanec)
A Colorado AP History countered Mazenec’s statement.
“The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The US engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it.” ~ Stephanie Rossi
Rossi argues that the “America the great” approach isn’t real. Slavery wasn’t over in a day nor was it voluntary. It was arguably what made America great (free labor built the country) but was also a major flaw. Board of Education members want history taught as an balance of the good and bad aspects of history but Rossi along with others doesn’t believed it’s possible.
“To me history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story.” (Rossi)
It is a very reasonable argument that history isn’t balanced by the good and bad. From personal experience I was taught the “America the great” side of history. Until middle school I thought Columbus was a hero and slavery was simple. Not until high school was I hit with the hard facts of history. In my opinion, history cannot be taught by balance. It should be told as the truthful story with the different view points and opinions.

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Permalink # carsonrobinson16 said

I would like to start off by saying, when you actually sit down and do the blog posts the right way, it’s not bad at all. So from now on I never plan on taking a zero on a simple assignment. Now back to the task at hand. Prior to reading the articles, I thought to myself “Why history?”. My answer may be slightly bias because it’s my favorite subject, but I feel like we need it. Not only does it add to your education as a whole, but you can learn a lot from it. However, my opinion on why it is studied sort of changed after reading the articles.
“When we study it reasonably well, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” ~ Peter Stearns
This argues that history, when studied well, makes us better citizens and more aware. Not only that, but it gives us more critical thinking skills. A skill that everybody can never have enough of.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

“Let’s face it, our first experience with history is that it’s a course that we have to take in order to graduate. We didn’t have a choice. And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.”
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
“Why history?” This question is asked by students who are forces into taking history classes as a graduation requirement. Because they aren’t given a choice they are automatically bias towards it. If given the choice, it is possible more students wouldn’t be as apprehensive towards it. It was also mentioned in this article that history isn’t learning from the past to predict the future, but to learn about yourself. You must know where you’ve came from to know where you’re going.

The great debate in history right now is whether it should be taught truthfully. Whether it is “America the exceptional and great” or “America as great but with a sometimes flawed history”. In Colorado, Board of Education member Pam Mazanec is leaning towards America the great and exceptional. “Yes we practiced slavery, but we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many other countries still today.” (Mazanec)
A Colorado AP History countered Mazenec’s statement.
“The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The US engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it.” ~ Stephanie Rossi
Rossi argues that the “America the great” approach isn’t real. Slavery wasn’t over in a day nor was it voluntary. It was arguably what made America great (free labor built the country) but was also a major flaw. Board of Education members want history taught as an balance of the good and bad aspects of history but Rossi along with others doesn’t believed it’s possible.
“To me history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story.” (Rossi)
It is a very reasonable argument that history isn’t balanced by the good and bad. From personal experience I was taught the “America the great” side of history. Until middle school I thought Columbus was a hero and slavery was simple. Not until high school was I hit with the hard facts of history. In my opinion, history cannot be taught by balance. It should be told as the truthful story with the different view points and opinions.
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # starlawood0234 said

History may sometimes be viewed as boring to students is an absolutely necessary subject to be taught in school. I agree with the first source (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) that it all depends on your teacher. The way a teacher teaches a subject can literally make or break if the student finds it interesting or not. Luckily my past two teachers had been amazing history and civics teachers. Also on the subject of “what” you should tea in school, the curriculum shouldn’t be changed because it’s too much ‘negativity’. If that’s the way history was then that’s the way it was. I agree with the third article that’s “you can’t repaint history”.
(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) Students deserve to know the truth no matter if it’s negative or positive. Forget that aspect just give us the truth. Generations can’t learn from the past of they don’t know how brutal it was.

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Permalink # hcbumgardner9 said

We are required to take history classes because without knowing and understanding our past we won’t be able to do so for the present. While I am the first person to say I don’t enjoy history, I know how important it is to my education. As Peter N. Stearn says, “History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society, and because it harbors beauty.” There is power in knowledge and if history classes were to be excluded from the curriculum then students would definitely not be as knowledgeable.
History classes should be taught objectively with no bias from teachers. America’s history is not perfect and it should be taught with all the flaws included.

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # suarez05j said

“The fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose brick wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history”.
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

We take history to know where we came from, and to learn about why are country is the way it is today. Why we have more independence compared to other countries. Without History class we wouldn’t know about our past and how to prevent past mistakes from repeating themselves.

Many times it is practiced due to laziness–people not wanting to have to do the work to rethink their opinions, the fear of the unknown, the fear of being wrong, or sometimes simply close-mindedness.
http://www.thomhartmann.com/users/natural-lefty/blog/2012/12/psychologists-take-willful-ignorance

Taking History doesn’t just let us graduate, but it lets us gain knowledge about topics and helps us open our minds to hear opinions of others and see the pattern of past american mistakes. Before complaining about the work and being lazy, taking the time to actually do assignments can help you understand whats going on in class and look forward to topic discussions.

“History itself is political. We all know that. What’s happening right now is people are politicizing the teaching of history. That should be everyone’s concern.”
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

How much of the “truth” should be taught in public schools? I think all of the truth should be taught, because if we grow up learning that America was great throughout the past and never made a mistake we wouldn’t know how to fix current mistakes or how to avoid them. We learn from our past mistakes and build from them to try not to repeat the mistakes past American presidents made.

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Permalink # codysmith197 said

Now i would like to start off by giving myself a hand by actually getting on this blog post seeing how i haven’t done a single one since the first one.
Why study history?
The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.
… we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
History should be a necessity in life. Like in the article it not only helps us understand the present but it helps us think for ourselves and learn right from wrong. And also in this article when it talks about how “some history depends on personal taste”. I find this to be very true. Whenever learning about a certain thing in history that I find interesting, I will find myself asking more questions and looking further into it myself. Whenever I’m being taught something that doesn’t interest me I find myself not caring for what is being taught. But I’ve found out that all history is important.

“But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor.”
“You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.”
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
In this article I found that the person that wrote it have the same views as I do. When it talks about that they were blessed to have a good history instructor and that a good history instructor makes it more fun. That is a hundred percent true. Whenever a teacher can get a student to see that what they are teaching is interesting that student becomes more involved in what is being taught. As for Mr. Noblitt he is a wonderful teacher that gets you to read for yourself which isn’t bad. That’s how you can learn and understand it for yourself. But the things you don’t understand you can ask and he can tell you why, and what happened. And he puts it in a way that you will understand. When it talks about how that if history repeats itself then we wouldn’t have some of the problems we do now is in fact true yet there are many things that have not happened due to the fact that it’s happened before but yet we haven’t done it again because we learned our lesson.

“As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily”
“I think our students deserve to have all perspectives – include the negative viewpoints on the motivations, but also the positive viewpoints,”
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
In this article what the lady on the Colorado school board of education had to say was very ignorant. And that is the point that people need to be taught the real history and not try to make America this place that is perfect. We fought a war over it and to say that it was voluntarily given up to say is ignorant. I agree with what the girl had to say with the quote above. We should learn the negatives to what America has done so that we don’t make the same mistakes and so we can see it before it happens again. But we should not just focus on the negatives but embrace all the good things we’ve done as a country.

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Permalink # Joshua Wellman said

History is what humans call past events that have been recorded. That’s all history is, it’s how we organize past events. Some people believe that history has been twisted and cut all up to meet a certain bias but others do not like in the article “http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history” when William H. McNeil and Peter N. Stearns share different opions on the topic “what is history?” And “why history?”

History is a must have when graduating since it teaches students about what has happen. Some people would argue that, do they really need history to graduate? Well I believe they do need history to graduate because you don’t need to be a history teacher if you are studying history in high school or college, history is said to be very helpful in different fields like the law, bussiness, or medical field as the article “http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html” states.

History can also be dangerous, like in the Colorado history teachings it said that America volunteerly ended slavery which is not the fact. They want the students to believe that because they want America to be viewed as perfect and we never did anything bad. The reason why manipulating history is dangerous is because that is how opions can be changed and view the world different, like the nazis destroyed all the history textbooks and “rewrote history” to change how the youth viewed the world and cram the nazi agenda down their throats until they were brainwashed. So history can be dangerous and can be lied about like in the article “http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily” about the Colorado history teachings.

I believe who teaches history should not be biased and have a secret agenda *cough *cough because it’s just immoral and wrong, like if someone thinks the tea party is the modern day nazis they should keep it to themselves and not try to manipulate innocent minds that are still juvenile. It’s mainly up to how the system works on how it should be thought. History can show errors that have been made before and can allow future generations the knowledge to not make the same mistakes but inrich their knowledge.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Lol the whole point of thinking is thinking for yourself. That includes not being willfully ignorant of things you dont want to think about
  
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  - Permalink # Joshua Wellman said
    
    Alrighty lol
Permalink # Chegueleslie said

“Why do they even make us take history classes.” This question to me is dumb because we all know that we need some kind of history knowledge in our brains! “Studying history can help us develop some literally “salable” skills, but its study must not be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism.”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history). By learning history in high school or any other type of school it’s very important for you and your future.”But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor. “(http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html). Having a teacher that doesn’t know what they talking about and make the class boring no one will put effort in trying to learn something and might think they don’t need it .
How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools? The truth of history should be taught truthfully.”But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!”(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). They ended the study of slavery but yet continued it in other countries I think it should be taught all the way.

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Permalink # Aislinn Nantz said

First Question: Why do we have to take history classes?
The first article, http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history, says “We virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” and that “some history is essential to function beyond childhood.” I personally don’t like history never have, its my worst subject. but that’s when article, I guess you can say comes into play, http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
“Our first experience with History is that it is a course that we have to take in order to graduate. We didn’t have a choice. And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We build a brick wall that prevents us from getting anything important out of history.” Another thing is that often times students are given poor instructors (not you Noblitt, before you begin to think that 🙂 ). Me? id say I had purddy good teachers I mean Mr. Cox made it fun for me to learn in his class and other than him I’ve had Noblitt. But before high school, I had no help with history therefore I’ve never liked it, never understood why it was soooo important. a couple other quotes from article 2 that I found, well, interesting is ” Everything has a history, even history itself. And we celebrate it all the time.” That’s not something one really thinks about until it is, well, thrown in their faces, “By studying history you can study anything.” I mean that’s why dude found an interest in history, maybe I can use this knowledge to help me gain an interest in history.
Now to question 2: how much “truth” should we be taught?
Well if you ask me I say all of it because right or wrong we, as students deserve to know what really happened. Although I do not have anything to quote from article 3 to prove my point.

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Permalink # daltonkjenkins60 said

I think that history is an important subject for students. Without history how would we know anything about what has happened and how our country has grown to be an international power.
I think that students should be taught the truth. If we only teach the bad or the good things that has happened then how can we train the future. “You may also have heard that everything repeats itself, so if we study the past, we can be sure to know something of the future.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html)
If they don’t know about slavery and the holocaust then they wouldn’t know the outcomes and something like that could possibly happen again. “To me, history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)
For people to know how to the world really works they have to learn some history. “…provides a real grasp of how the world works.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)

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Permalink # dylpicklee said

I agree when people say that History is not the most exciting class to take every year in high school. I agree when people say that students sometimes feel as if it is unimportant. But I do come to realize why we actually need it in order to graduate. We must have some base of education in the history area. We must have a foundation of knowledge before we go to college.

“We emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” I agree with this, i also love how it says “simple awareness.” We need at least a simple awareness of what has happened in the past. http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
“We begin to build that grandiose brick wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.” I believe that students should be a little more open-minded when teachers teach history. We know that the times we live in today will be our future’s past. We should want our future to respect us, so we should respect our past. http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
“Pam Mazanec, a Larkspur businesswoman who sits on Colorado’s Board of Education, posted on a Facebook discussion thread her concerns that questions asked on the Advanced Placement U.S. history test “portray the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.”” I believe that, by now, students are old enough to be told the truth and nothing but the truth about the country. We should no longer be baby fed. We need to take the punch, then debate and discuss in class. Because this is how the real world is going be. http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # Dean the Machine said

Michael asks “why do they even make us take history classes.”
History classes are taken by any generation of people to help one educate the young to gain an understanding why did events happen. History however is one sided or biased and will only tell their side of the story. Some history depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
For example those students in American schools will learn the American perspective on world war two or even the Iraq war. Many saw however that we wanted a future trading partner or possibly a reduced price on oil. Some history depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge.

Secondly, history to necessary to help prevent previous wars, and events from happening again, if you something about history you will notice History repeats itself. You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. It’s too clean. If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. You may also have heard that everything repeats itself, so if we study the past, we can be sure to know something of the future.
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
The second question posed in this blog is as follows:
How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools – America as exceptional and great, or America as great but with a sometimes flawed history.
History should be taught to the fullest truth. However a small child should not hear about the raping and brutal side of the Indians or how Americans used hoses on the African-Americans. While still in elementary or even 6th grade a child should not be taught the full truth on History and a child should learn the flawed of History after 7th grade.
The main reason of teaching the full truth even if flawed in 7th grade is because the child will be able to better reason why this happened the way it did. Before this age many children will still ask the whole why with a need of an answer.

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Permalink # miliebenton said

I actually believe that history is a waste of time unless you want to be a lawyer. History is not really history. Some of the same things are going on that were going on many years ago such as racism. This statement “You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. ” ( http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html ) is true thats just what they want us to think.

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Permalink # khadijahwatson said

Of course knowing our History is VERY important and Vital for the success of our future. Not to sound cliche or anything, but you must know your history in order to not repeat it. We have to learn from past mistakes.
“When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness”(www.historians.com).
Not only knowing history is important , but knowing ALL of the history. This includes the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, brutal truth. You can not tell an optomistic story with only half of the truth. There is no half truth, but only lies. To fully understand the picture, we must know every crevice of it, even if its dark. “What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get to where we are right now,” Demmer said”(www.coloradoindependent.com).
This is not a productive way to teach history. It has no value to the students, if they only learn the half-truth, and in other words, lies!
History can not be changed, but the future can. Fully knowing our history and what we can do to improve it can help set us up for a stong, solid future.

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Permalink # khadijahwatson said

P.s. History can also helo explain the many issues of today! (For example: Humans involuntary prejudice for different races).

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Permalink # nataesia said

We should study history so we can “acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) History is not just textbooks and documentaries for everyone. Some people like to know the history of art or food. But there is a basis for history that everyone needs to know so that they can be a knowledgable person of society.
“Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) Some of us might not like history but there’s nothing that we can do about it. Any profession that we want to go into has history, even flipping burgers at McDonalds. History is everywhere in our lives and we have to accept it.“…acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives…” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) By learning about history, we , as humans, are able to understand why the things that are happening in this time are happening. The second article says, “To know yourself means to be aware of what it is that makes you who you are. And in this respect, the one thing which reveals this knowledge is history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I agree with what this says. History, to an extent, makes you who you are today.
How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools?
I think that all of the truth of history should be taught. Why are kids going to want to sit in a class for 90 minutes for 5 months and be lied to? We have a right to be taught, by our teachers the whole truth of hisotry. On many tests we see that history answer that we know ““portrays the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)
““As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)

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Permalink # karigandanielle said

“The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)
This quote from the first reading is ultimately true. If we’re wanting to gain knowledge and become thinkers, we have to learn history to see where we once as humans were in life, the things we’ve came up from with a smile on our faces. Yes, history is required for us to graduate, but it should be! You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going!

“Everything has a history.” “History can, on the other hand, reveal all that’s the present.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html)
These two quotes from the second reading need to be analyzed by all of us. Everything has a history, now that hits deep. That means that not only does watching tv, or taking care of a child have a history, but history has a history. If we don’t learn history, how can we learn the things that we do in every day life? Histpry can reveal all that’s present.. Indeed, we learn things from our parents, but where did they learn it? Their parents? Okay, eel thats history. It’s like a family recipe that you’ve had for years, that’s your families history. It’s like mine, we have a family crest, I had no idea until I went to Ellis Island in New York. Little did I know, my families history goes way back. If history wasn’t worth learning, we’d know nothing of our past.

Teachers shouldn’t be afraid of teaching their students certain subjects. We should always be able to learn the good and the baad of things, and have all perspectives. History isn’t necessarily something you can sugarcoat. Yes, there are plenty of way too, but why would you want to? I’m not going to sit in a history class for an hour and listen to a bunch of bologna! It would be totally pointless. History helps us understand the way the world is today.
“The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The United States engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it,” said Stephanie Rossian AP U.S. history teacher”(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) This lady seriously should have paid attention during her history class because the U.S did not, on any means voluntarily end slavery.

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Permalink # imanifaaruwq said

Why study history? Because “Some history—that confined to personal recollections about changes and continuities in the immediate environment—is essential to function beyond childhood” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) which basically means because we need to in order to have knowledge on survival. The author of the article is saying that there is no way we could know how to take the steps in even the simplest things in life without the knowledge of how it was previously done. The knowledge being passed through these high school lessons are not just boring things that we’ll never think about again in our lives but manual instructions on how we should think about and act on things in life.

I believe that no restraint to be held as to what is taught in history classes as your parents wouldn’t hold back the repercussions of having unpretected sex. “What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get to where we are right now” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). The comment made by the board member was inappropriate but appropriate at the same time. In her mind, holding back the truth is a method to keep the truth from hurting those who see the USA perfect but to myself and others, we think the withheld information about our country is a crutch that needs to be broken in order to proceed in building our country in a way that will keep us from crossing the same bridges we intended to burn.

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Permalink # kourtneybrown said

Ml

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Permalink # fransiscovera said

Why do they even make us take history classes? Well many answer by saying that the past doesn’t matter only the future does! But. The past affects the future since the mistakes our ancestor makes will be lesson for us in the future to not repeat the same mistake twice or multiple times, but we as human forget if don’t repeatedly use the knowledge or wisdom we gain in our everyday life. “You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

I believe we should teach America as a great country but with gruesome past. Reason for is that anyone you met that’s nice and kind or sweet had horrible past or disgross past. For example, “The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The United States engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it…” http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily This is a great argument. Yeah the article said that U.S “willingly gave up on slavery” but is also said “we fought for and against slavery in the Civil War.” If we only show our good side and pretend we did nothing bad, we’re just being fake and this my friend leads to corruption since the “good” wants to get rid of the “bad”.

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Permalink # kourtneybrown said

History is one of my least favorite subjects, I find it so boring. (According to you, Noblitt, I’m the one who’s boring if I find something boring but what ever) Though I’m not a big fan of history, I find it important to learn because it’s important to know where you have come from, especially from my point of view, being African American AND female. (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) states that we have to study history to gain human experience and I agree. It goes with a quote that says “You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” Even the author of the second site says they learn history to improve themselves (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) History is one of those things that will always be there and will always matter so we might as well learn it p we can understand why.
In my history classes up until junior year, everything was so sugarcoated compared to what I learn in history now. I found out so much more raw information in your class about things that I had already half learned it bothered me. In my opinion, history should be taught 100% as is. it doesn’t matter how it makes America look, it still happened. As Rossi said on (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) History isn’t an equation it’s a story. Students are in these classes to learn and I feel like not teaching the truth in history is hindering their learning.

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Permalink # ndaquioag98 said

Why should we study history?
“When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)
Studying period can help you remember many things. I think Mrs. Kimmel said you had to do something 14 times for you to actually remember something. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to read a 1 hour speech 14 times, and honestly IB classes won’t even give me enough time to read something for more than 30 minutes (just kidding).
“But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html)
Being a boring teacher never interests anyone. You might as well teach yourself if you aren’t going to get into it. Even though I do sleep, I enjoy history alot. I learn critically and get to express my views in the class. So studying history is important to learn our past.
“Colorado’s latest education official to condemn high school history course standards wonders why those who wrote the curriculum missed what seems to her an obvious point — that the United States voluntarily ended slavery.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)
Much of the truth in history has to be covered up because it is either too brutal or inappropriate for the curriculum. I think that it leads us to be unexposed to important things that has happened to us during previous events. Why pick and choose boring things? Be real and tell us the real stories of history!

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Permalink # queenbree7 said

Why do we study history: “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) Exactly. It’s necessary in order for us to continue to make advancements in civilization. We gain skills, knowledge, and awareness by looking at trends, and actions of the past. Why wouldn’t you want to study history really. It allows for you to take a look at the past from so many different perspectives and causes you to think critically and come up with your own conclusions. History can be considered an unsolved mystery because of how many different accounts there are. It’s a form of entertainment and intellectual gain. “But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I do believe that some people’s reluctance to study history comes from the fact that it’s a requirement to graduate, and that some teachers just can’t explain it in an engaging and easy to comprehend way. And when it comes to which part of American History should be taught, I think this quote explains it pretty well: “ In other words, of all the things in the phenomenal world, there is not one so important as yourself. To know yourself means to be aware of what it is that makes you who you are. And in this respect, the one thing which reveals this knowledge is history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) We need to KNOW ourselves. Knowing yourself means knowing where you come from and you honestly don’t know anything about where you come from if bits and pieces are left out. It becomes a lie. American history should be taught thoroughly with absolutely nothing left out. “Schulzki attended last month’s state education board meeting during which members discussed the AP curriculum and whether it threatens American values.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) What threatens American values is lying about it’s past. We then become an untrustworthy, “exceptional” country when in reality no one cares about how “exceptional” it is especially when it’s “exceptional” is completely subjective.

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Permalink # royjune said

Why do they make us take history? Even though I don’t do well in history, I do see the necessity in it. I may be making a D in the class, but I feel as though the history courses have made me a better student. It states within the first article that, “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) Which I completely agree with. I’ve gained a better understanding of people different than me, just by being willing to listen and learn. I credit all to history class, simply because it taught me not only the knowledge acquired of and by our ancestors, but the mistakes they made in the process. This is also stated in the second article,“They undergo a process of development. They change, are modified, are distributed or are forgotten only to reappear years, decades or perhaps even centuries later.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) As far as how much of the “truth” should be taught in public schools… It should be told and taught from all perspectives, in the best way possible. History is not one sided, in fact it’s multi sided; which makes it more interesting. Its also prevents ignorance, that is depicted in the third article. The article states that, “Shouldn’t our students be provided that viewpoint? This is part of the argument that America is exceptional. Does our APUSH (AP U.S. History) framework support or denigrate that position?” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) This quote enforces both that the education of multi sides of history needs to be taught, and that the ignorance attributed from that is a serious problem that needs to be fixed in classrooms around the world.

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Permalink # zhalenr said

First off I must start off by saying, I always loved doing the blog post lol! My answer to the question “Why do they even make us take history classes?” is simply because the classes are necessary and very important. If I didn’t know my history I honestly don’t know where I would be. It is always good in my opinion to know where you have come from and how far you have come. In all of my history classes I have learned the opportunities that I now have that my ancestors didn’t have. In one of the articles it said “When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness”(www.historians.com). One student basically said on their post that “only lawyers need history class”. WHAT?! We all need to know our history. I don’t think that some of the history we learn in class is true, but I feel that we still need to learn it because if we have doubt that will encourage us to do our own research.

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Permalink # kiarasp said

I would like to start off by saying I was one of those seventeen that did the blog post. So, with that being said… “Why do they even make us take history classes?” I personally, think they make us take History classes because it is good to keep the children of future America informed on the past. http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history, says “…because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” Studying history is essential to function and to figure out how the world works due to the past. History can be very intellectually informing as well as preventative of repeating bad things that may have happened in the past. As a historian, history is important in order to pursue my dream of law. Everyone might not find history entertaining, but I love it! Studying history is a good way at interpreting life and why things are the way they are, according to http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html.
I think that in history a student should be taught the whole truth about history. Whether, it happened or not. How else is a student supposed to prevent things in the future, if they do not know the past? If we are supposed to learn about history, shouldn’t it be the truth? In the U.S, we are taught that even though we may fall short, we are still based off of morals and what is right. However, how can we live in a country where right is false? In, http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily, A woman said that we did away with slavery voluntarily and it was rebutted with “What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get where we are right now”. Now I am not saying that slavery is the only flaw, but it is the one pointed out. This refers to more than that, it includes the hurt against anyone and any history that has been changed to make America look less violent, cruel and self-centered. History should be taught the way it happened, regardless of the extent. There is no way to learn from it and grow from it if we can’t acknowledge it and move on. Also, if it cannot be taught how it happened due to the amplitude of gruesome and evilness, then it should not have been done.

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Permalink # kiannamartin said

Why do we have to take history classes?
How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools?

I believe we take history classes to augment our knowledge of different things that happened in the past that declares the future of us.Our knowledge of past events allows us to advance and produce the future.History is something that defines us and allows us to know where we come from. History also allows us to learn from the past and grow and progress. Without history there is know way to learn these lessons and also no way to advance to the future. In the first article the author states,” What could history offer the business major? the student intending to study web page development? the student taking her first psychology class? or pre-med student? or the lawyer? or the worker on the shop floor? Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history. Try hard as we might, we can’t escape the past. We can’t let go of the past. And we celebrate the past all the time.” I most definitely agree with this statement because even though you may not want to study history you will eventually have to learn some background on the career that you would like to go into or learn the history on something that you need to know at that moment. Learning history is well needed and a world without history would be a world that isn’t knowledgeable.
I believe that 100% of the truth in history should be taught in schools. in the third article the author said,”History isn’t an equation it’s a story. Students are in these classes to learn and I feel like not teaching the truth in history is hindering their learning.” I agree with this statement because not teaching student all of their countries history then its hiding important information that we need to know.

http://WWW.HISTORIANS.ORG/TEACHING-AND-LEARNING/WHY-STUDY-HISTORY

http://WWW.HISTORYGUIDE.ORG/GUIDE/STUDY.HTML

http://WWW.COLORADOINDEPENDENT.COM/149589/STATE-BOARD-OF-ED-MEMBER-U-S-ENDED-SLAVERY-VOLUNTARILY

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Permalink # jaybyrd40 said

Before reading the articles I began to process my argument and can broadly answer the first few questions based on previous blog posts, class discussions, and opinions I already have on the matter. I feel that history classes are very valuable in teaching generations about previous but also to take these past experiences and learn from them to prepare for the future. History is repetitive allowing us to prevent and adapt to future and present situations to protect ourselves and thrive naturally. This may be as simple as the weather being cold for the past few days I assume it will be tomorrow, therefore, I may want to dress warm. You can take such a simple mindset such as this and apply it to any historical event and a correlation drawn to a current event from it. However, the fact that history being so valuable it is also crucial to accurately depict it or corrupt mindsets such as racism can be taught at a young age influencing future generations to come. This being said America should be perceived as truthfully as possible because we are by no means a perfect people with a perfect past. We are responsible for many evil doings, deaths, and current struggles. I don’t feel that there should be any false or biased history classes that aren’t open minded for discussion and most of all questioning. I do however feel that children of a young age immature should not be lied to but shouldn’t be told the entire truth of history until they are able to truly understand it. For example, the truth of the Christopher Columbus story is reasonable to teach to high school Juniors, like most of us were taught last year where we were intrigued by the topic, (which is also an important thing to history is to excite and grasp students attention), but teaching elementary students that the childhood tale is beneficial in itself as it allows them to gain pride in their country, allow their imagination to wander, and so on and so forth.
As a response to the first article I agree as it bluntly answers why we must study history by saying that, “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” It also brought to my attention something I mentioned earlier that history creates a great possibility for danger if it isn’t accurately depicted or understood. Whether or not history or American history for that matter can be understood and taught to a complete truth is a better question for this blog post. I feel like it is impossible to say something completely be done as I think logically and mathematically, but I do feel that as generations pass and our knowledge grows and acceptance widens and compromises open we may be able to agree and achieve what is the closest to perfection.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
As a response to the second article it provides some good points and quotes on topics I mentioned earlier such as, “The main problem as I see it, is not history itself. The study of history can be fun.” Connecting back to when I said that history should be interesting and gives full responsibility on the instructor which I feel is harsh due to the fact that some students are just stubborn, defiant, and apathetic.”And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose brick wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.” I feel that students such as these described in the opening paragraph of the second article are not only wasting a great opportunity for success in school but also to obtain vast knowledge but also jeopardizing others opportunities as they become distractions to their fellow classmates. One thing that the second article states that I did not address would be that, “Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history. Try hard as we might, we can’t escape the past. We can’t let go of the past. And we celebrate the past all the time.” I feel that even if you view history classes as being forced upon you, not as an opportunity and privilege even as I explained I do, that no matter how hard you try you can’t escape it as it is repetitive and will always be remembered, and with the advancement of technology will be more available to anyone at anytime. The second article then went on to challenge my previous opinion by saying, “You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. It’s too clean. If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect.
You may also have heard that everything repeats itself, so if we study the past, we can be sure to know something of the future. I don’t hold to this view either. To insist that the study of the past will reveal something of the future is a nice idea, but what I really want to know about is the present. History cannot “tell” the future. History can, on the other hand, reveal all that is the present.” This point I agree with which is what I believe and had an idea of earlier but clarified them. The second article then went to talk about the writer’s personal experiences and opinion of why history should be studied which I feel is easily relatable for this class blog as it being informal and personal may be the best way to address high school students I feel.
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
As for the argument in the third article I wasn’t as interested because it seems that it is just a back and forth bickering of what true curriculum is rather than how I stated earlier I knowledgeable compromise and educated guess so to speak should be taken to create an improved history curriculum. I do agree with the closing argument that states, “History itself is political. We all know that. What’s happening right now is people are politicizing the teaching of history. That should be everyone’s concern.” I feel that this is the honest truth, but ironically only political approaches are being taken to solve this problem. How America is perceived historically varies according to perspective, which it should be but should be equally evaluated when concerning things such as curriculum for education.
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
This being said I will conclude by saying that history is extremely valuable to all ages but how truthful it should be taught is based appropriately and according to maturity and age. It is also very dangerous when all perspectives are not evaluated or understood correctly.

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Permalink # emilyrebekahwilson said

I believe that history is obviously very important because if we don’t study history, we won’t know our past. I believe we need to know where we’ve been to be able to get where we’re going. America in history should be taught as it was. It should not be sugarcoated just because people are scared kids will realize that maybe America isn’t the best country in the world. It’s a free country and we have a right to an opinion. Everyone makes mistakes and that’s what helps us grow. We should study history so we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. Like the Holocaust. If we never learned about the Holocaust, and never talked about World War II, how different would we be? Or if we never knew about slavery? The topic of racism would never come up, but people wouldn’t be as strong as they are now. Knowing who you are and where you come from can help you a lot and is important. My ancestors were slave owners. Knowing that, it actually makes me a little more sympathetic towards different races because it’s like I have a guilt because my ancestors were racist and did those horrible things. It’s kinda like when someone’s family has a history of drinking, that person will probably end up not drinking because they have seen the way the person in their family acts and don’t want to end up that way. That’s why I think we should teach the children in America everything, even the bad stuff, that way our future leaders will know how they can act differently.
“What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get to where we are right now,” Demmer said”(www.coloradoindependent.com).

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Permalink # ramseybrooke said

I think the reason they make us learn history is so that we can learn from previous mistakes. I also think it helps us attain knowledge better and helps us to think broader.
” The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) I totally agree with this statement: “Let’s face it, our first experience with History is that it is a course that we have to take in order to graduate.”(http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html). I feel like many of us look at history like that. We don’t care about actually learning it we just go through the class because it’s a requirement. But I think if we actually try to learn we would be more knowlegable. I think everything in history we should be taught. I don’t think they should try to cover up the bad stuff and just teach the good stuff. I think learning the “bad” things helps us when we face those “bad” things. “Shouldn’t our students be provided that viewpoint? This is part of the argument that America is exceptional. Does our APUSH (AP U.S. History) framework support or denigrate that position?”(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily).

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Permalink # alexandrashines said

Honestly, history is my second favorite subject. Some people find it boring but honestly it opens your eyes like Deanna said. We learn something new everyday. Its important to study history because you need to know about the background of the United States. Why Study History? | AHA
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

State Board of Ed member: ‘U.S. ended slavery voluntarily’ | The Colorado Independent
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # erindmcmanus said

Taking history classes are required to take because believe it or not it plays a very important role in our lives. How are we suppose to live in the present time and not even know a thing about our past and where we come from. I personally enjoy learning about history, but im not gonna lie and say i think every topic is interesting. My stepdad and mom are really really into history, i guess thats why i like it. I actually enjoy learning about things that happened many years ago and i love going to historic land marks. I think history is a very important thing to learn, and pay attention to.. even things that are happening in todays time, because eventually it’ll become history as well. It is always important to understand how the world and our country got the way it is now. “your expirence with history will be much richer one if you keep in mind that history means self-knowledge” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) if you have knowledge in history then it will likely help open someone’s mind and probably change how they think about things that might be an issue now. I agree with many of the people that has commented before me about how it is taught, it does depend on your teacher but sometimes history can’t always be interesting. And I also think that the full and entire truth should always be included when teaching history. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t.

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Permalink # nixonbrandon said

Why should we study history?

History is a very important topic to study. We should study if you want to know how and why things the world and its people came to be as they are today. The first article said we should study so we can ” acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
How much of the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools? I think that all of the truth should be taught, they should to sit in class and be lied to. we have the right to know the real truth about history.

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Permalink # itaylor068 said

I think that it is very important to take History classes, even if it sometimes isn’t all that fun. How can we say that we honestly understand society when we don’t understand the way it was created? It also teaches us about change and how it can take little events to make a big change, for the worse or for the better. Our past can have a huge impact on our future and we need that knowledge of history to teach us that.
“…through cumulative skill in interpreting the unfolding human record, provides a real grasp of how the world works.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

“…history will be a much richer one if you keep in mind that history means self-knowledge…” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
This author of this article discusses how he thinks of history as a way of learning to improve himself. I agree with this. History makes you think and come up with ideas of your own; makes you question things.

“What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get to where we are right now.” http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
This quote is very important. It basically summarizes the entire article. You CANNOT change history. What’s done is done. I think that history should be taught with the whole truth. America should strive to be exceptional and great. One cannot just decide to change history. I most definitely think that teaching the whole truth of history does not threaten American values. It teaches us how far America has come. If anything, it strengthens them.

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Permalink # manningrebekah said

I don’t think historical education should be require, elective would be all and well. I do love history; but if I’m being totally honest, I couldn’t care less about most of it. I really like local history. I’m even doing my IA on it. I think schools should have history as elective, like local history, US history, International history, etc. Like the History Guide article says “As a junior and senior high school student we are confronted with American history, state history and perhaps even a general course in western civilization or world history. We didn’t have a choice. And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive.” (histroyguide.org) Not dissing Nobs, or IB HOA, but I find that much less interesting than history I voluntarily study. I can see both sides of this argument. “…we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (AHA) I understand why we are require to learn history, without the requirement the general populous would be extremely uncultured and unaware of anything outside of their current “world”. I can’t seem to imagine a world where most don’t know general history; I imagine it would be a very different place. Without required historical education, the world would be a very ignorant place, but every view point should be shared, like it said in the Colorado Independent article.
I think history as it’s taught has lots of flaws. History is told in ways to keep “heroes” maintain their hero status; for example; Martin Luther King Jr. He was not the selfless, saint, martyr he was and is perceived as in history. Also Rosa Parks, she was not an elderly person who refused to stand after a long day’s work, she was a long time member of the NAACP; who was planted on the bus as a protest. Also history is taught with perception (#TOK). I’m sure that a lot of the things we think we know to be true aren’t merely because we didn’t have first person accounts. I also think the lesson taught could very simple from where you are or where you go to school. For example a Christian school might focus on how slaves relied on faith and god for strength more than a public school would.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # justinquinn98 said

Why do we take history classes , a great question considering the topic we are discussing right now. I believe that we take history classes to find out about our past , discover the truth and how things started. I myself believe that history is a very intriguing subject simply because it has so many great things to learn about. http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html states that the study of history is fun and i agree. In the article http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html it states that everything has a past. That statement is very true because you start from somewhere. I believe that all of history should be taught in school simply because why hide the knowledge that the students may be able to use in the future. It is dumb to tell the teacher that they cant teach about the subject they love. that is my opinion on this blogpost. Till next time..

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Permalink # lamexicana96 said

First of all, look how many people did their blog post on or before the day it was due! My Writing 111 professor had us all create our own WordPress blog for our online portfolios and we have about 6 blogs that we are required to post for. Each blog has to be at least 500-700 words and is pretty much an open canvas as long as you relate it to the unit and at least one reading.

So, why take history? Heck, why do they even make us go to school?!

“When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)

You cannot honestly expect to be competent and intelligent people if you simply walk the earth with no knowledge of its history. The goal would be to learn history so that history never has to repeat itself in the future. What happens, instead, is people don’t want to learn about history or accept the facts, so history repeats itself. And it will continue to repeat itself until people grow up and decide that it is useful.

School is not meant to be fun or easy. School is meant to educate you. You can’t just give up and quit simply because you have decided that you don’t like the topics or the teacher or whatever. Life doesn’t work that way.

When it comes to WHAT from history should be taught in public schools, I think we should be taught history as close to the truth as possible. I’m not saying we need to be teaching kindergartners all the horror of the pilgrims and indians and whatnot, but the truth should not be danced around as you get older. America is not as exceptional and great as the textbooks make out to be; yes, we’ve had some great times, but there have also been some bad times. We can’t just turn our heads and pretend the bad things didn’t happen because they did and the sooner we accept that, the better.

“What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness and the hurt and abuse that the African American in America suffered and endured to get to where we are right now” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily).

History, like most other subjects in school, is necessary. Just because you may not find it interesting, doesn’t mean it should be removed from the curriculum. And just because we may not like what happened in the past, that doesn’t mean those pieces of history should be sugar-coated or skipped over. The world is not Will Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; bad things happen and when they do, we need to learn about them and understand them so that we can prevent them from happening again in the future.

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Permalink # rufina Landa said

Why should we study history?

History is very important and it should be something everyone should want to study. With history we can collect information about our ancestors lives and our very owm lives. The negatives and the positives all have an affect on us. So with history we should be able to learn many skills.
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

History will teach us a lot about our ancestors. How they lived and the many difficulties they faced. History could teach us what we could do to help our future. In my beliefs history is not that different than our lives today. In history there has been wars, poverty, and racist acts. This stuff is still happening today. People are always going to judge others by what they look like or thier wealth status. War is never going to stop. People are always going to fight and want more than others. Even though we should improve i believe these things will never fully disappear from human life on earth.
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # quahouser said

“How can we know where we’re going if we dont know where we been.” This one of my fav sayings of all times i dont exactly know who originally said it but my grandpa used this saying very often and this really explains my out look on history. We take history class because its improtant to know about the past so that we never go back to some of the bad ways and and so that we are able to be thankful for where we are today so with that beimg said i think that all aspects of history should be taught even the ugly truth americas background with slavery and other thing doesnt make america any less of a country its still a great country that grows and change the growth and change of america realizing the mistakes and overcoming them is what makes america a better country hiding the past and making ppl blind to the fact that everywhere has flaws is just setting the country back up tp repeat its tragic pass events .

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Permalink # melainabree said

“The answer is because we virtually must in order to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
I believe the cliché that we need to learn about our past to prevent us from making the same mistakes as those before us. Also we can look to our past to show us what to do. Even just by going back in smaller increments of time. If we try to live our lives solely based on the future without looking to our past for answers then we will just end up making the same mistakes. Even though I wish that wasn’t so. I would like to be able to say that we can forget about the past and pretend all the bad things never happened but that would be ridiculous.

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Permalink # ethanbullard said

Why do “they” even make us take history class? Well, simply put “Colorado’s latest education official to condemn high school history course standards wonders why those who wrote the curriculum missed what seems to her an obvious point — that the United States voluntarily ended slavery.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) This question is especially interesting coming from someone whose ancestors have had to suffer at the hands of brutal and ignorant white oppressors. We NEED history so that we know not to subjugate someone just because of their religion, race or nationality. If we weren’t taught history then we’d be back to slavery, killing Jews, and all out warfare with the world powers. I find it a little shocking and scary that Pam Mazanec would say that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery. If having a war and civil rights movement is voluntary then I guess we’ve all got our history mixed up. Oh wait, that’s right, we don’t have our history mixed up, and she does. History is just as vital as math, English or science. Just because one may not find it interesting or even boring, doesn’t mean it is any less important. I think AP Calculus is boring as hell yet it will go on to help me solve not only math related problems but also situations that require critical thinking. Mrs. Kimmel would love to speak on the importance of math and I feel that it isn’t our place, as students, to question why we need a subject yet I find myself and others doing it every day. Great leaders, fathers, mothers, friends and humans do not come from places where they have no knowledge on subjects they deem “boring” or “pointless”. You should give appreciation to the person who is willing to further your knowledge in subjects.
““Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory. As such it can both make us wiser in our public choices and more richly human in our private lives.”—William H. McNeill, Why Study History? (1985).” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) I believe William H. McNeill says it best because this is just why we have to study history. We need to know history to be wiser.

All the truth should be known when discussing history so that we aren’t left not knowing why something happened the way it did. I understand this may make us look bad but if we want to prevent us from looking bad again, I suggest we are told all of history instead of strategically placed sections to glorify us as a nation or a race. Hitler did this and used history to manipulate the minds of Germany’s youth. The Spaniards manipulated history with the Encomienda system to make the natives slaves seem of lesser value than any other human on earth.

I find some comfort in Socrates take on history. “”Know thyself.” In other words, of all the things in the phenomenal world, there is not one so important as yourself. To know yourself means to be aware of what it is that makes you who you are. And in this respect, the one thing which reveals this knowledge is history. But people do not live alone, they live in society. And it is in society that the individual comes into contact with other individuals, all of whom are on the same quest, in varying degrees. So, for Socrates, knowledge of self does not hinge upon reflection or introspection, but conversation, hence the Socratic dialogue.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) The only way we can know more beyond ourselves is to converse and history allows us to do just that. For us to fully know ourselves, we need to know our HISTORY. This being said, I believe that all should be put out there not Just bits and pieces.

EXTRA CREDIT:
As some of you may know, there was recently a bombing at the notorious Newspaper publisher, Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. What you might not know is that there was a similar attack by the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, in Baga, that killed upwards of 2,000 people. Which event do you think deserved more attention? Why? Why do you think the attack on Charlie Hebdo received such a unanimous response whereas the attack in Baga didn’t? How do you think would you feel if your entire family was killed by Boko Haram and you witnessed the attention that Charlie Hebdo received?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501
http://time.com/3666619/why-charlie-hebdo-gets-more-attention-than-boko-haram/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237

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Permalink # michaeldarden said

First off I think the only social studies we need is Civics and Economics. All of these other history classes are not essential. You learn about our past in Civics and Economics. I just do not see how learning who built the Great Wall of China is gonna help me become a more successful Anesthesiologist. Yes, knowing where you came from is a great thing to know but you learn all of that in C&E. All these other history classes are very irrelevant in my opinion. They should be optional after C&E. “Why do we take History? The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.”http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history I do not completely agree with this. History is not as important as Math and English. Noblitt says they are all equal but that is obviously false. Math and English will get you a lot farther in life then history. Other than Civics, i don’t think we need history classes, they should be optional.

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Permalink # meagybreann said

Do I think History should be taught in school? Uhhh, yeah. I may not be good at remembering names and dates of people, but it is a crucial subject that MUST be taught. History helps us learn more about things and helps us develop further ideas. With out the history of History, major developments could not be made. For example, if we didn’t know the history of medicine during WWI how could they further the developments during WWII? As said in “Why Study History?” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) History is to help further critical thinking and awareness. “..we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” Without this how could we expect to further research and reasoning? To think of ways to developments and resources? Yes, history plays an important role in these questions. Without it we would all be stuck in every day roles and ultimately repeating the same thing daily.

“Ideas have a history. They undergo a process of development. They change, are modified, are distributed or are forgotten only to reappear years, decades or perhaps even centuries later.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) Ahh, my point taken. Back to when I was talking about Medicine. If these “ideas” weren’t later reevaluated, where would Medicine stand today? No where. History isn’t just one subject, but is present in ALL subjects. We refer to it in every class. It is important to know where our ancestors stood. How their time period compared to ours. Without the knowledge of wars we wouldn’t know how things occurred. Resulting in a repetition of history.

Now, when it comes to teaching History, I believe that we should learn the full truth. I wouldn’t want to learn something that was a lie and I wouldn’t want my children to either. Changing History defeats the purpose of why it should be taught. Its almost like changing a number in a formula. The product comes out wrong. If they say History repeats itself, why would we want to repeat a lie? ‘”To me, history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story. It’s a story about humans overcoming difficult circumstances. It’s a story of humans making horrific mistakes. And then it’s a story of human beings saying ‘Wow, we can’t do that again,’” she said.”(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) (I disagree with her about the math equation.) However, she is right. We learn from our mistakes. History shows the mistakes we have made and the good things we have made. Why should they be forgotten?

So if anyone asks why do we have to learn history? We learn it to develop technology, society, relationships, the mind, ect. It is important. One day you will learn something and realize that history was a leading cause of everything. It is a foundation on which we keep building on.

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Permalink # yaboyjulio said

I really enjoy history class, at least better than my other classes. I’d choose history over math or biology any day. History helps us recognize what happened in the past, and the events that occurred to make great nations and advanced technology. I feel like looking back in the past can give you a good perspective in the present.

In the first article (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)
It talks about why we should study history….”gain access to the laboratory of human experience” In order to understand the past we must gain knowledge of the experiences of past humans and societies.

From the second passage I learned about learning new things and using your own knowledge to come to different conclusions than others (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) Some of the greatest leaders of the past are labeled as great just because they thought a little differently than others.

(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)
“I think our students deserve to have all perspectives – include the negative viewpoints on the motivations, but also the positive viewpoints,”

As students I think that we should also view the bad parts in history. We can’t ignore these things like it didn’t happen (because they did) (maybe TOK)

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Permalink # matthewmerrington said

We should learn history to understand the mistakes and successes of our ancestors. History also teaches the lessons learned from previous generations.”Studying history can help us develop some literally “salable” skills”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) I believe taking away the 100% truth makes the history not history anymore but a fairy tale. If you try to hide anything it just makes people believe in false ideas and is a bad way of learning especially in school.”“What her comment and that whole movement is trying to basically do is repaint history in a way that takes away the ugliness…”(state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) America and the world makes mistakes and should be held accountable for them as they are history that we should learn as well.

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Permalink # nicandel said

While history personally isn’t my favorite topic it is definitely important and overlooked by a lot of people. If we don’t learn about history now while we’re young then when we go out into the “real world” we’re going to make careless mistakes and more than likely repeat history. We cannot change history therefore it should be taught just the way it happened. Yes there are flaws but without them America wouldn’t be the country that it is today.

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Permalink # nicandel said

“usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. ” this quote from http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history is a perfect example of why I feel history is important. It teaches us the social skills we need, without knowledge of our histories past we can’t make any attribute to making our country successful.

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Permalink # adamnesnow782 said

I think the reason we need history is to see what we, people, have done in the past. “by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history.” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html “to gain access to the laboratory of human experience” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history Whether it is all the stupid things we’ve done or all the great things we’ve done. I don’t think, however, that the only things we learn about are all the bad things we’ve done. Because that, more than anything, brings back all the bad past and makes it even more tense now than we were. I’m not saying it should be ignored, but also it should not all be one sided either way. In Colorado ONE member of the school board opposed the curriculum and it made national news. “instead promotes positive aspects of the nation’s history. Students and teachers have walked out in protest. “Only because they want to be comforted by their own ideology. http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily. Basically she was saying that we need to treat our hero’s as hero’s and not our founding fathers as villains because they did things that at that time of day was allowed, and the standards of today are not what they were then. At some point we are all going to be criticized for something we did today that is not acceptable in the future.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Critical thinking, though would love to see more. Keep it up
  
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Permalink # emilylopez314 said

“Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.”

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

Imagine a world without any history lessons being taught. There would be so many questions I would be asking. Like for what reason did a lot of people die on this day a specific time ago? I feel like history needs to be known just for someone to acknowledge what people many years ago for the growing generations today. We need to learn what actions, sacrifices, and mistakes people took just to establish our country.

The second question: “How much truth in history should be taught in schools?”

I believe that every detail should be told while teaching an important event in history. How many people got killed, with what weapon did they get killed with. Nothing should be glossed over while teaching history.

“To say the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is like saying that Germany voluntarily surrendered at the end of World War II,”

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

Why gloss it over and say that the U.S. ‘Voluntarily’ gave up slavery? Why not just give them the cold hard truth and told them people died because of the Civil War? The students that are being taught will soon grow up to be adults. Once they get out of high school, they’ll expect everything to be handed to them and think that war’s aren’t bad, that it gets resolved because someone on the other side of the war gave up.

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Permalink # calliehatley said

“The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” besides the fact that its required to graduate, this is a good explanation of why we should. We must see where we once were long ago to see where we re headed. We may not go through the exact same event but lots of issues seem to come up again and we can learn a lot of what to do and what not to do through our history. I used to ask why we need history all the time because I truly hated it. I thought it was purely dates and names. I think that I only felt this way due to the teachers I had in the past. They did not truly care about or have a passion for history, but this year I have come to see a whole new side of history through Noblitt. To see him care so much and get excited makes me want to learn. It has showed me that history is more than dates. To address the second question, we NEED to see the flaws of Americas history in order to truly learn. We learn best from our mistakes. Why is this even a debate?
Also, thank you Noblitt for making this due on a Tuesday!:) http://WWW.HISTORIANS.ORG/TEACHING-AND-LEARNING/WHY-STUDY-HISTORY
http://WWW.COLORADOINDEPENDENT.COM/149589/STATE-BOARD-OF-ED-MEMBER-U-S-ENDED-SLAVERY-VOLUNTARILY
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

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Permalink # nicolejknox said

I think that history is mostly important because it teaches you how to think in perspective. That’s also the reason I think that history should be taught as complete truth- it shows students the reality of the world. I agree with the statement, ” Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not” ( http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html ). To just ignore all progress made in the past is just as good as erasing it. We shold study history “to gain access to the laboratory of human experience,” as the American Historical Association article says. I’m not sure if this applies to everyone else, but I tend to feel disconnected from history, almost as if it did’nt happen, but learning about it from perspective makes it feel more real.
I’m glad about the negative response to Mazenac’s ideas in “The Colorado Independent” article. It shows that other people also think that truth should be taught in history.

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- Permalink # nicolejknox said
  
  *should *didn’t
  I hate typing
  
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Permalink # liza10297 said

I like doing blogpost it keeps us up-to-date of what is happening around the world. I mean it’s really not that hard to do a blog post I mean you can just write something and you have your grade.A lot of people want to be lazy and don’t want to do it. We make history everyday somehow. We’re part of history so I do think history is an important subject. I don’t know or care much about Tok because I get Aggravate with all the faith stuff and that other stuff so…..
“Studying history can help us develop some literally “salable” skills, but its study must not be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism.” So we should study its good . So is history!
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
I guess people just want to stay stupid there whole life and not study , it’s really not hard.
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # shannah97 said

I think we, as growing student who will be making up the next generations, should take history classes. Even though it may be boring, it’s important to know where you have been in order to know where you are going. However, history is not just about knowing specific dates and wars, it’s also about learning how to analyze and question the things that were learn, and not just accepting them just because someone important said that it’s true. “… , we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org) We can’t get away with not learning history, it’s in everything we do and see. When you know the history of something, you are able to understand and appreciate it better. “Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history…” (http://www.historyguide.org) I don’t thinks it’s right that we sugarcoat America’s history, because let’s face it, America is already an arrogant country who finds come way to justify all of their actions. No one should make history a “someone did something wrong, so we had to fix it” story, they should just teach the facts, and let the students have their own opinion about it. “‘To me, history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story. It’s a story about humans overcoming difficult circumstances.'” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com) So, while history may be a boring subject to some, it teaches us skills that are crucial in your upcoming society, and helps us appreciate the things are are around us.

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Permalink # cdanielles said

To some, I could see why they believe history is irrelevant or boring… But to me,it’s captivating. Also, I believe to hold an actual intellectual conversation with someone you must know at least some history of the world. “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history). I agree with this statement because how could you go without knowing, at the very least, the base of our very existence? How could someone not be curious about how certain things came to be?

History, although not always, can be flawed in the way it is taught.It is a very biased subject, and those teaching it may teach it how they believe the events occurred instead of what ACTUALLY happened.. “…her concerns that questions asked on the Advanced Placement U.S. history test “portray the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). This whole argument makes absolutely NO sense to me. Sometimes the negative viewpoints are the correct answer. There is no going back and rewriting history. It is what it is. Why sugarcoat the truth? Why only tell some of the truth, leaving those ignorant to the true historical facts?

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Permalink # keyannia said

“The study of history can be fun. But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor.” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
I have had the best history teachers these past two years. Every time I walk into Noblitt’s class I am sooo excited to see what he has to bring for me to think and ponder about. Because I have a very intelligent history teacher I am easily drawn in to everything he has to say.
I just think that history brings self knowledge to students gives us something to think about. History isn’t just important so that we can learn from it but, to learn how to connect things you know to things you can think about in an educated conversation. History is important to know where you came from yes.

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Permalink # dandyperez said

It is funny to see the answer to the question why we should study history in the second sentence of the first article. Anybody can cite the quote “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history). But what does this really mean? In my own interpretation I conclude that when learn from our past mistakes. So if history really does tend to repeat itself then it’s better that we teach history and at least try to prevent it.

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Permalink # carolinestyers said

“All I am trying to suggest here is that your experience with history will be a much richer one if you keep in mind that history means self-knowledge and as students, that should be one of the most important things to you.”(http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html)
I believe history is a very important thing and it needs to be treated as such. People’s history should be important to them. Every student should be required to take history classes. Students should have an understanding of the past that their ancestors lived in. We should marvel at at the strength and adversity of the ones before us. We should also learn from the evil in the past and never repeat it. “History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society, and because it harbors beauty.”—Peter N. Stearns (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history)
All history should be taught in school; the good, the bad, and the ugly. We shouldn’t sugar-coat our history because we don’t like the things that happened. Learning that America is the best and only teaching about the good stuff we’ve done is only looking at half of the picture.
““As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!
“Shouldn’t our students be provided that viewpoint? This is part of the argument that America is exceptional. Does our APUSH (AP U.S. History) framework support or denigrate that position?””(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)

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Permalink # zacht27 said

Taking from the first two articles (http://WWW.HISTORIANS.ORG/TEACHING-AND-LEARNING/WHY-STUDY-HISTORY and http://WWW.HISTORYGUIDE.ORG/GUIDE/STUDY.HTML), an appreciation of historical knowledge is key to understanding the environment around us, especially in a social respect, and maintaining an appreciation for varying aspects of the Universe, some of which involved in forming who we are as individuals.

Regarding the second question and the third article (http://WWW.COLORADOINDEPENDENT.COM/149589/STATE-BOARD-OF-ED-MEMBER-U-S-ENDED-SLAVERY-VOLUNTARILY), ALL truth should be taught in public schools. America (the United States) should not be taught as an exceptional and great nation nor as great nation with a sometimes-flawed history, but as a geographical area with its own history that is among other geographical nations with their own histories, because that’s what it is. Fully acknowledging actions by individuals who reside(d) in America and actions by a collection of people forming a government within a certain period of time as precisely such will help the people of this country to collectively aim toward the global betterment of humanity rather than falsely perceive ourselves as some sort of super-race simply because we live in a space confined by arbitrary lines which help in conceptualizing the physical world in sections.

There is no reason to be proud of one’s luck of birth or preferred residence.

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Permalink # vintagesoul12 said

Why do they make us learn history. Well personally I feel history, is very important. History to me is the only minor connection we have, to the past. History explains many things involved in our present.” By studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history” ( http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) If everythingI has a history, and or a background story, why would we not need to learn about it. History provides answers. And gives a lot of reasoning, and explanations. “I wish to improve myself. And by improving myself I also improve others. ” ( http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) Another good reason we learn history. To be educated, and in the knowing. Is there any real truth to history? Any truth? Yes! The whole truth? No! They teach us what they want us to know. ”

“Shouldn’t our students be provided that viewpoint? This is part of the argument that America is exceptional.” ( http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) If a situation occured that changed history, but yet made America seem bad. And or weak, and less superior. They won’t teach us that part of history. They’d make sure to teach.us only certain parts.

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # zantrum17 said

I think history is a very important subject. It’s my favorite class and besides gym it’s the only class that I like going to every day. It seems like everyone else hates it except me sometimes. It’s important to know about different cultures along with the culture you live in as well.

Many bad things have happened in the past like slavery and the holocaust and people need to be informed abut events like these to avoid anything. People are able to develop their own opinions on things when they’re actually educated on the past and we can make better choices as a society to avoid disasters like the ones listed from happening.

“Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory. As such it can both make us wiser in our public choices and more richly human in our private lives.”

Even if you don’t want to go into a history related field everything still has a past and that’s important to know. Everything has a past to it and we all need to know about the past in order for us to form a better future. While some things in history may not help you later in life there are plenty of things that will help you become a more informed well-rounded person.

“Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not. Even history itself has a history. Try hard as we might, we can’t escape the past. We can’t let go of the past. And we celebrate the past all the time.”

While little kids shouldn’t be told violent stories about world war 2 or the horrors of slavery there comes a point to when people should find out the truth about everything that’s happened good and bad even if people might look at or country differently after learning it’s not all rainbows and sunshine every where we go. It’s very possible to be honest about the past and still focus on the greats of our country.

“He notes that the United States was one of the last industrialized countries to end slavery – not exactly a happy fact in the nation’s history. Still, he said AP History “actually addresses the whole notion of American exceptionalism and recognizes what’s extraordinary about this country.”

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # jedwebb said

My honest opinion is blunt. History should be taught exactly how it happened or as accurately as we have details or proof of. The job of “regulating” what is good or bad or if the curriculum promotes the good things equally to the bed is simply not their place to make that decision. As a student I would rather be given ALL the facts and brutal details and form my own opinion on how I feel and have my own take on things. But for someone to try and “shape” history is completely wrong and is manipulative.

http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # destinysanders235 said

Even though I am not a big fan of the subject history, I do believe it is a necessity we need in the school system. History gives us the background information that led to the present, like today. “…so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.”(http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) This quote supports the idea that history allows us to acquire skills needed to handle the present day. It teaches us about our own lives and why things are and happened the way they did. I feel as if without history being taught that there would be many questions of, “why?”, “how?”, “when?”, and so on. This particular situation would cause conflict and problems between society. The second article states, “Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, numbers, races, windsurfing, coal miners, pencils, motherhood and yes, even toilet-training.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) This quote holds value to me because it speaks clearly the truth. Everything in the everyday world has history. As human beings our past years on earth is history. I feel as if the world couldn’t function without the knowledge of history. The second article also states, “ To know yourself means to be aware of what it is that makes you who you are. And in this respect, the one thing which reveals this knowledge is history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I personally agree with this statement all the way because I feel as if history plays a role in display to us who we truly are and where we stand in the world. For example, without the history of segregation, many of us would lack the knowledge of discrimination betweens races and gender and so on.
Lastly, I believe when history is taught within school the truth should be fully told. There’s no need to hide the flaws America has, rather than we should own up to them and accept it. The third article states, “As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) For I would have to disagree with this statement because I feel as if slavery came with a sacrafice which is the death of many lives. To me this holds a valuable prize in history rather than “voluntarily.” The meaning of “voluntarily” to me is free. The sacrifice of peoples live is a price in my opinion. Basically, I am saying that the whole-heartedly truth should be told to students so that they will know the accomplishments and failures of history giving them different understandings and perspectives.

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Permalink # marionwhitely said

You may have been told that we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. It’s too clean. If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect. History cannot “tell” the future. History can, on the other hand, reveal all that is the present”. http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html.
difficult circumstances. It’s a story of humans making horrific mistakes. And then it’s a story of human beings saying ‘Wow, we can’t do that again,’ http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily. “The idea that the United States voluntarily gave up slavery is an outright misrepresentation of history. The United States engaged in a civil war to end slavery. There was nothing voluntary about it”. http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily.
“When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history. History also helps provide identity, and this is unquestionably one of the reasons all modern nations encourage its teaching in some form. Historical data include evidence about how families, groups, institutions and whole countries were formed and about how they have evolved while retaining cohesion. http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history. “Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history.
I believe that all the “truth” in history should be taught in public schools because even though America is great and exceptional we are flawed. “Rossi, an employee of Jeffco schools, warns of the dangers of viewing – let alone teaching – history as a zero-sum game. History is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story. It’s a story about humans overcoming

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Permalink # kiejaphillips said

Although history may not always be the most interesting subject to learn about it is needed. By learning our accurate history we will be able to avoid making the same mistakes and falling into a vicious cycle of unfortunate events. Not only will we not be able to repeat the same mistakes but we will be able to develop and cultivate our literary skills “The uses of history are varied. Studying history can help us develop some literally “salable” skills,” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history). By studying history we are able to built study habits that will be carried over into multiple learning areas. No matter what we plan to do with our lives history is going to come into play. “Well, simply stated, everything has a history, whether we like it or not.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) We have to understand that everything we do has a history and we are able to move forward with our future by knowing and applying out history. You can’t know where you’re going without knowing where you came from because the exact place that you may be trying to take a thing may be a path that it has already taken.
Honestly history should be taught exactly as it happened. Although every individual has their own interpretation of what happened in the past, what really happened should be passed down. It appalled me that a representative on the school board stated,”that the United States voluntarily ended slavery.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). I understand that she wants every view point to be represented but you shouldn’t go as far as trying to alter history yourself. As I stated before history should be as accurate as possible so our next generation will not be deceived and manipulated to believe something that did not occur.

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Permalink # kyley1126 said

I think that the second source makes an important statement when it says “History cannot “tell” the future. History can, on the other hand, reveal all that is the present.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html). History is important not because it predicts the future, but because it explains how we got to where we are. We learn about slavery in the U.S. not because we expect it to happen again, but because it offers an explanation for racial tensions, the continued mistreatment of blacks, and the low socioeconomic status that they have been trapped in throughout history. Actively trying to portray the U.S. in a positive light, as Pam Mazanec was trying to do, can be very harmful (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily). By denying the oppressive acts of our country, we are denying the struggles and perseverance of our citizens. I think that what we are taught in schools is already trying too hard to make the U.S. look good. How come, in all of the history classes I have ever taken, I have never learned anything about the Japanese internment camps that the U.S. set up? Why were we told to see Thanksgiving as a wonderful moment of peace between Native Americans and Pilgrims, when it was actually the celebration of a massacre? Our history provides us with an identity (http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1998)). By denying the oppression in our history, we are denying the identities of the oppressed.

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Permalink # kylethompson98 said

Why are we required to take history classes? I think this can be answered by saying something along the lines of “because we don’t want to make the same mistakes as we have in the past”. But as said in the website, “To insist that the study of the past will reveal something of the future is a nice idea, but history cannot “tell” the future”. History can act as more or less as a guide line for the future rather than something of a prediction or insight on what mistakes will be repeated in the future. So with that being said, I would like to look at history as this guideline, something society can hold to, but not solely rely on to predict the future. http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
Now as far as the question goes about whether schools should keep the negative parts of history out of class. I would say a good solid NO. Ok I can see schools feeding more positive information to the smaller kids but not high-schoolers. We SHOULD be old enough to accept the truth about anything in history. Whether its a war that much blood was spilled or whatever.Any way you look at it, history is history and you can’t change it, so why try to hide it? As noted in this website, “with an eye to replace it with a curriculum that avoids encouraging “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law,” and instead promotes positive aspects of the nation’s history”. I can see why they may want to avoid these topics especially the disregard of the law, but its still history and it needs to be taught. Don’t hide the broken glass of the negative parts of history under the rug full of positive history. Sooner or later we will find out, well hopefully anyways. http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily

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Permalink # isabelchaparro said

I as a student do enjoy learning about history. History for me is very important because we learn so much about what happened before we were born and so on. We learn about our roots and what people did to find success in life. So the question is “why do we have to take History classes”. I believe that history does indeed help us understand so many things. For example, as a senior in highschool I understand the civil war and the reason why it happened. Unlike Pam Mazanec (“State Board of Ed Member: ‘U.S. Ended Slavery Voluntarily'” The Colorado Independent. N.p., 02 Oct. 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.) who thinks that slavery was abolished voluntary which is so highly incorrect. (“portray the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.”) This is a great example to use for my argument because she thinks that the school board is teaching the lesson wrong and that we are seeing America in a wrong point of view. Slavery was history and the new generations have the right to know how things were centuries ago. After that is up to the learner of how they want to react about it but that specific topic should be taught exactly how history happened.
Many students may complain about learning the history of the countries & many important historical events internationally, but complain because they think it’s unnecessary to learn this very important events. They just don’t know that everything has a history. For an athlete learning about their favorite team is learning about history or learning about their favorite player. I pretty sure that they would like to know true facts about their favorite sport, team or player. So how is this any different from learning worlds history.? “Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, numbers, races, windsurfing, coal miners, pencils, motherhood and yes, even toilet-training.”. It’s all how you see it. “I was fortunate. I managed to have a number of excellent history instructors throughout my high school years and this was at a time when I was leaning toward the physical sciences, geology and biology to be exact. I might not have been an excellent history student, but I do remember having excellent history teachers.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) This just simply explains to us that as long as we have a good instructor who teaches history, learning about history should be an enjoyable lesson for all of us. Which is true because I never have had a great history teacher growing up until now. And all my life I’ve enjoyed learning about history but sometimes I’ve felt like the teacher was just giving us book work that will never end which made me not want to read any longer. And I personally don’t learn that way. So I think that history is indeed a necessary class to graduate. I’d take that over Math any day.

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Permalink # ryanhunterwilson said

History seems to have such a worth to the ability of knowing, or at least thinking. It honestly seems absolutely ridiculous in any case of which we do not study history. If we refuse history or simply ignore it, we are wasting much of our lives. “When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history To take a step back and just examine, the time and heart we put into the study of history affects every aspect of our lives. For someone to absolutely ignore the study of history is to almost not have a love or care for anyone or anything, because history is beautiful. History is beautiful because every thought, word, action, reaction always continues to lead to something else that leads to something else, and so on. All these events in history involve people from beginning to end. So if we do not care about history, we do not care about life or the people that are in it. The past will always affect the present and the future, not because of exact past actions, but because of past thoughts and ideas that have been flowing throughout generation after generation since the beginning of man. Yes, new thoughts arise, but they arise based upon a stem of a past thought or a contradiction to another. So we must study history to understand people’s thoughts and ideas, as we must study thoughts and ideas to understand history. Thoughts and ideas define history as well as history defines them. So for anyone to say, “there’s no reason to study history for me” will live a forever dumb life. It may seem fun and crazy to not care about anything and just live life for their constant immediate comfort, but in reality their only justification for their statement is themselves. They could possibly make an intelligent answer if they knew the history of which that idea originated or why it arose, but they can’t because of willful ignorance. Although, they wouldn’t truly care to justify anything because they obviously don’t care about anything at all.
For me personally, I absolutely love history and indulge myself into it daily. If my comments from the previous paragraph was somewhat confusing, this statement will state partially of what I am attempting to say. “But what I soon discovered was that my lack of understanding of history, i.e. the actual historical context in which these writers conceived and executed their theoretical work, made my understanding of their philosophy one-sided. Sure, I knew what they had to say about liberty, or the proletariat, or monarchy or the franchise. But what was the historical environment that gave rise to their ideas?” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html Being a theologian and a philosopher at heart, I must examine history to understand and idea or thought on any topic. To understand other ideas and thoughts on that topic, I must understand history which led and interacted with them. To fully understand any thought or idea on that topic, I must fully understand all views on that topic. After all this, I can make my personal view on the topic to which I will apply in my life that affects other people’s lives. Being a future pastor, I must understand this concept. My good friend from the Gospel Coalition understands this and states, “Some evangelicals are skeptical of historical theology because they hold to the motto “No creed but the Bible” and thus reject input from any source other than Scripture. My approach to historical theology is to view it as offering wisdom from the past in terms of the interpretation of Scripture and the formulation of sound doctrine (which is enjoined upon us by Scripture; e.g., Titus 2:1). God has promised to guide his church, and historical theology must represent an aspect of that promised guidance.” http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/driscoll-aquinas-and-the-need-for-historical-theology There is also no doubt in my mind we should teach the truth of history, but we should also teach all views. Once we do that, we will truly not be willfully ignorant. The understanding of the willfully ignorant ideas is for the sake of the truth being known and thought about more and more, through absolutely everything. So when the pastor states, “Mazanec’s take on slavery shows “she’s willfully ignorant at best or she is racially disingenuous at worst”” http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily he must understand that she teaches even the most absurd views so that the reasonable views can be better known and though about.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  When has ryan wilson not done a blog post worth extra credit? Nicely thought, excellently argued, score ryan
  
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Permalink # ameliaculbertson164 said

Well it’s super late at night right now for most people, luckily I’m a night owl and these questions are easy and have a basic answer.

Why do we have to study history? Good question. Yeah, no. it’s not. Whatever genius thought of that clearly has the potential to do something stupid just like our ancestors. History is a beautiful thing to know and understand. Gory, brutal, confusing, and sometimes boring, but informative.

History is important in school because it acts as a bio for the world; a kind of “know the ground you stand on” and “where all this comes from” kind of thing. Not knowing how America came to exist or how the Civil War started makes you question knowing things. And reading up on these topics also makes you question “did this really happen?”. “It is essential to individuals and society” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history

Now as far as truth… why is this even a question? If an education system limits the content of what students are being taught, then is that truth? Nope. That defeats the whole purpose of learning. Don’t feed me lies or partial truth, give it to me the way it is. How the heck are you supposed to get by in life if you can’t face cold hard truth? And if a subject like rape or killing or whatever is too “violent” for students………. GET OVER IT. sadly more than half of us will witness something violent. If anything, teach us how to handle the situations, not pretend they didn’t happen. Geeezzzzzzzz.

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Permalink # kia said

I believe we are taught history in high school to gain a better knowledge of were we came from and what we had to go through. Is most of boring yes, but at the end of the day I’ve walked out of the class room with some knowledge. Luke the article says”When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. The uses of history are varied. Studying history can help us develop some literally “salable” skills, but its study must not be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism”http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history. To answer the second question should we be told the honest truth when it comes to history instead of the sugar coated version my answer is yes, because sometimes ad Americans or people in general we tell the half of these story that makes us look good and know one knows the truth there is always three sides to a story theirs , yours and the hehe truth and they all need to be told.

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Permalink # gerardrosenthal said

So, why study history? That’s easy! It can be summed up into two major reasons! One summed up perfectly by this site here! “When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives”
http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history
But another major reason is to avoid repeating the mistakes that had occur ed in the past, and to be skeptical of the choices the government is making. If we only know a censored history, than we truly don’t know the mistakes that occurred in the past, nor could we ever hope to fix those mistakes. We’ll only blindly follow the will of the government, for we only know them for their glory.
Now, if you’re not into history for that reason, consider this. “Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, numbers, races, windsurfing, coal miners, pencils, motherhood and yes, even toilet-training.” http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html
You can learn anything from history! Whatever strikes your fancy, and whatever interests you, you can find in history! If you’re interested in grass cutting, guess what you can study the history of! There’s nothing that history doesn’t relate to, for everything had a being at one point, and most likely if it was that signification it was documented.
That’s what this all boils down to, how much truth should there be in history. “It’s a story about humans overcoming difficult circumstances. It’s a story of humans making horrific mistakes.” http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily
That’s just it. History is filled with triumph, and failure. It’s important everyone knows of both. If we’re ignorant to our history it inspires acceptionalism. We can’t blindly follow our country, yes be patriotic, but know the past. Know the mistakes that have been made, and don’t make them again. Remember where you came from, and you’ll always know where to go.

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Permalink # hazen666 said

I feel your rant, bro. Sorry my computer at home doesn’t ever want to work, and when it does, it decides to not let me log on here.
Article 1 states that we should study history “because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) In other words, to find out why things are the way they are, we must first find why they became this way in the first place. I completely agree, although I hate history because my memory, especially short-term, is horrible (I wonder why). In article 2, it is said that “everything has a history, whether we like it or not.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html). Once again, I completely agree. I’m going to major in business; therefore, at some point I’m going to have to learn about the history of business management (as much as I may not like it).
On the topic of the teaching of our country’s history itself, one viewpoint is that it “portray(s) the negative viewpoint as the correct answer.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) I don’t think that’s true, because Noblitt gives us both sides of the story. Some events are bad-looking for us, and others are good, it just depends on the event in question. Also, the material being taught may not be relative to the teacher, but the way it is taught definitely is. So, in short, the history of America should be taught from what we know is fact, whether it be bad or good for our reputation.

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Permalink # maddiehaas said

“why do they even make us take history classes.”
Honestly, this question has an obvious answer. We learn from our mistakes. History is there to show us our past and allow us to reconstruct the future. It’s supposed to keep us from making the same dumb mistakes while also teaching us a little more about ourselves and our founders. But, anyways on to the articles. “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience” (http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history) How are we to learn from our mistakes if we don’t know them to begin with? I find history boring only because it’s forced. When in reality it’s amazing. Seeing how far intelligence and ignorance has brought us in this world. It can really change your outlook on things.
“But there’s only one thing that can make our first experience with history a miserable thing indeed: and that’s a poor instructor”
“And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose brick wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.” (http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html) I can absolutely agree with this. While Mr. Noblitt makes history easy to understand, some teachers try to make it harder than it really is. Adding meaningless work and projects that have nothing to do with what we’re learning. Not to mention if they don’t try to interact with us. I love these blog post actually. Sharing my opinion is fun and allows me to know whats happening in the present.
“As an example, I note our slavery history,” she wrote to a woman who teaches AP U.S history. “Yes, we practiced slavery. But we also ended it voluntarily, at great sacrifice, while the practice continues in many countries still today!”
(http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily) This clearly shows that we need to be taught the truth. It’s sad to think that a teacher doesn’t even know what she’s teaching. You can’t just blind people with ignorance. It’ll completely alter their performance later on in life. There’s good and bad in history. We deserve to know both.

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Permalink # renasha123 said

I would like to say that blogposts aren’t bad, and honestly it helps us open our eyes to the viewpoints of not just ourselves, but also the people around us’s viewpoints. Now to the real topic at hand, “why do we even take history classes.” Before I even read the articles, I want to state what came to my mind when I read that. Honestly, as a country how do we learn to prevent future problems, by learning from our mistakes.“And the fact that we are forced to take history puts us on the offensive. We begin to build that grandiose brick wall that will prevent us from getting anything important out of history.” (http://WWW.HISTORYGUIDE.ORG/GUIDE/STUDY.HTML) That’s just it. History is filled with triumph, and failure. It’s important everyone knows of both. If we’re ignorant to our history it inspires acceptionalism.
But the thing about blogposts is that sometimes they can be to much and i just want feel like doing it at all,. So how is this any different from learning worlds history.? “Well first off, by studying history you can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, numbers, races, windsurfing, coal miners, pencils, motherhood and yes, even toilet-training.

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Permalink # projectmayhem1nas said

History gives context. You wouldn’t read a single sentence out of a book and expect to know what it means. Granted, most folks wouldn’t bother to pick up the book anyway.
There are questions that I believe haunt everyone throughout their lives (they do me at least,) and a knowledge of history is essential to forming beliefs to quiet life’s questions.
What is the best way to live? What good comes from it? Why?
When faced with these questions and similar ones, you have three options: 1) Ignore them. 2) Force feed other people’s answers to the questions without asking questions. 3) Study and attempt to answer them yourself.
The problem I have with the first one is two-fold. Firstly, it guarantees that your life will accomplish nothing, that you will be nothing. It would’ve been better that you were never born, and it will be best when you die. “And I declared that the dead, who are already dead, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who was never born.” (Ecclesiastes)
Secondly, it’s too hard. You have to immerse yourself in distractions, which is easy to do now, but it strips meaning from everything. You become too shallow, and your attention span becomes too decrepit to enjoy anything deeper than the .6 inches of depth your cellphone has.

My problem with the second is similar. The questions will still bug you, but you’re too focused on what answers have been given that any other idea becomes a threat. You immerse yourself in someone else’s dogma and end up missing the forest for the trees. It’s stressful. You feel like you’re being attacked by any other person, group of people, or piece of art that represents any dogma other than “your own,” so you end up completely removing yourself from people, at least emotionally, or you live two lives. You tell the questions to go away because you have the answers, but you tell your answers to go away when the questions aren’t around. The two lives might convince you that you’ve both fulfilled the internal questions and lead a happy external life, but you actually are empty inside and alone outside.

The third is the only option left, and it is also the hardest. It’s difficulty is why so few choose it. Confronting the questions alone may lead to sleepless nights, crying because of the anxiety they cause, frustration, and everything in between, but it’s the only way to get to freedom. It’s the only way to find meaning.

Knowledge of history is a very valuable tool you have to use when confronting the questions.

Thus concludes Part One.
To Be Continued
Immediately

I believe honesty is one of the most important things in the world, and that belief extends to my opinion that history should be taught as honestly and with as much integrity as we know how. Modifying history to shape malleable minds really reinforces option 2. The lies taught in history class only serve the purpose to perpetuate the status quo…to ensure that America continues to be worshiped as a god by its citizens. It gives the United States more power to do as it pleases. Morality is subjective and if the United States can please its patriots no matter what it does, then there’s no reason not to exploit weaker folks or to do other evil things. By reshaping the context that history is, they can make people believe that America has always done the right thing, so that when a questionable thing is done, patriots will have full faith in Amerigod and will back her all the way.

The end.
p.s. I know I don’t do these often. I just never feel like I have much to add.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Thanks for posting an example of what critical thinking looks like
  
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Permalink # thomasanderson2016 said

Why should we study history? “The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience.” http://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/why-study-history I have always liked history, but sometimes it gets boring and becomes a drag. History is the reason we make the decisions we do and what makes us who we are. “If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect.”
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/study.html If we don’t learn about slavery and the holocaust then we wouldn’t know the outcomes and something like that and it could possibly happen again. “To me, history is not a collection of positives or negatives. It’s not a math equation. It’s a story.” (http://www.coloradoindependent.com/149589/state-board-of-ed-member-u-s-ended-slavery-voluntarily)

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