.1 The True Value of History

Today we are going to superficially discuss the history of education, or at least start it. I have very strong biases and for this hope you understand the distinction. I have the bias that the most important thing for a human being is to have perspective. Perspective is the name of the game. It is what distinguishes us from animals, which have no perspective, consciousness, or choice. The exercise of that choice is our conscious decision making which is very precious. And so, one way of thinking abut the task of life is to understand, that what we are about is figuring out how to make the most informed choices. There is a whole world out there that we do not know about or is new to us. So how do we engage that world? One of the things which is exciting is that the world of the late 20th century is so much more complex than the world of any century before. Right now, we have more to do with all the nations of the world than at any time in our history and the information we have to make decisions with is so much more comprehensive than at any time in the past. So the way in which we go about making our decisions are very strongly shaped by many more influences than there used to be. There are, of course, some things that we cannot choose and others that we can. Our task is to figure out how to exercise those choices when we have them. History is one of the least appreciated subjects in the curriculum. History is exciting, but the way we teach it is really dumb. We teach it as though it is just a long string of dates and they are boring beyond belief. We must figure out how to make it come alive. It is when history lives that we are then able to find a way to use its lessons.
How do we use those lessons by knowing the date a particular war took place? That is not very useful information. It does not help us in any substantial way. Today even though we will have a very superficial look at the history of
American education, we will see some of the small ideas in the history of education that made us the way we are now. When we look at the reason to study history, we are actually figuring out how to inform our choices. That is what it is all about.

	What is the value of knowing history, and how do we cash in on it?	Answer Here
	Mrs. Royal is a European History teacher that has reached the point in her mandated curriculum where she teaches the Holocaust. How can she make sure that her lessons make a difference in her students' lives rather than just teach them dates and places?	Answer Here