The speaker alleges that
studying history is valuable only insofar as it is relevant to
our daily lives. I find this allegation to be specious. It wrongly suggests that history is
not otherwise instructive and that its relevance to our
everyday lives is 1imited.To the
contrary, studying history provides inspiration, innumerable lessons for living, and
useful value-clarification and perspective-all of which help us decide how to live
our lives.
To begin with, learning about great human achievements of the past provides
inspiration. For example, a student inspired by the courage and tenacity of history''s
great explorers might decide as a result to pursue a career in archeology, oceanography,
or astronomy.This decision can, in turn, profoundly affect that student''s everyday
life-in school and beyond. Even for students not inclined to pursue these sorts of
careers, studying historical examples of courage in the face of adversity can provide
motivation to face their own personal fears in life. In short, learning about grand
accomplishments of the past can help us get through the everyday business of living,
whatever that business might be, by emboldening us and lifting our spirits.
In addition, mistakes of the past can teach us as a society how to avoid repeating
those mistakes. For example, history can teach us the inappropriateness of addressing
certain social issues,particularly moral ones, on a societal level. Attempts to legislate
morality invariably fail, as aptly illustrated by the Prohibition experiment in the
U.S. during the 1930s. Hopefully, as a society we can apply this lesson by adopting a
more enlightened legislative approach toward such issues as free speech,
criminalization of drug use, criminal justice, and equal rights under the law.
Studying human history can also help us understand and appreciate the mores,
values, and
ideals of past cultures. A heightened awareness of cultural evolution, in
turn, helps us formulate informed and reflective
values and ideals for ourselves. Based
on these values and ideals, students can determine their authentic life path as well as
how they should allot their time and interact with others on a day-to-day basis.
Finally, it might be tempting to imply from the speaker''s allegation that studying
history has little relevance even for the mundane chores that occupy so much of our
time each day, and therefore is of little value. However, from history we learn not to
take everyday activities and things for granted.By understanding the history of money
and banking we can transform an otherwise routine trip to the bank into an enlightened
experience, or a visit to the grocery store into an homage to the many inventors,
scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of the past who have made such convenience
possible today. And, we can fully appreciate our freedom to go about our daily lives
largely as we choose only by understanding our political heritage. In short, appreciating
history can serve to elevate our everyday chores to richer, more interesting, and
more enjoyable experiences.
In sum, the speaker fails to recognize that in all our activities and decisionsfrom
our grandest to our most rote-history can inspire, inform, guide, and nurture.
In the final analysis, to study history is to gain the capacity to be more human-and I
would be hard-pressed to imagine a worthier end.
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