Studying history allows students to tap into a vivid realm of stories. This includes stories of war and peace, good and evil, successes and failures – all the things that make up the human experience. History helps students develop a more informed perspective on the world around them and teaches them to understand different perspectives of people that are often in conflict with one another. It encourages a deeper understanding of difference – which is especially important in the modern world where inclusivity is a key element of humanity’s survival.
Students learn to identify the factors that caused the rise and fall of nation-states and civilizations, forms of government, economic systems, motivations for political actions – all the recurring themes that history offers as a window on the past. This provides a basis for making better decisions in the future by learning from the mistakes and successes of our predecessors. It also enables them to understand the importance of being willing to change and adapt as times and situations change.
History provides a foundation for learning about the world’s many cultures and helps students recognize that there is no single “right” answer to any question or problem. It teaches the importance of having a diverse world view in order to create solutions that will benefit all of humanity. History demonstrates that the most successful societies are those that embrace diversity and are willing to adapt as necessary to survive.
Historians face two difficult tasks: selecting from the vast record those events and ideas, institutions and personalities that seem to have significance and then explaining why they think these are significant. No two historians produce exactly the same list, but most are able to agree on a core of historical events that seem to be of major significance. School courses usually are formed around this common core.
Professional historians recognize that there are many different kinds of histories and methods for interpreting the records of past lives, but they all share one basic principle: they try to capture what happened in the most accurate way possible. It’s not unlike a policeman who struggles to determine what actually happened in a car accident from the accounts of eyewitnesses. History, too, is a messy business and susceptible to bias, pride, vanity and, if not outright perversion of the truth, then subconscious obfuscation of some grimmer realities.
Significance is a subjective judgment and historians are constantly struggling to shape the most accurate picture they can of the past by identifying and eliminating superfluous information. It is not a tool that should be used to advance personal or political agendas, however. History can become a weapon at the heart of culture wars that promote poor, one-dimensional understandings and diminish its usefulness in the future.
The most obvious use of history is in providing identity – a sense of how we, as individuals and as a society, have evolved while retaining cohesion over time. This is why all nations encourage the teaching of history in some form.