The Importance of History

    You know there are a lot of people around that believe that history is a useless subject and should be given less and less time in the classroom. What kind of stupidity is that? Those history detractors state that memorizing dates and battles are unimportant in getting a job, and in that respect they are right. Memorizing dates is completely useless. That however is not the primary function of a good history class. No from my experience history teaches a student to take a bunch of different accounts from numerous perspectives and discover the truth from various agreed upon and established facts. Tell me detractors how is this not useful in any job you take or in life in general?

    There is though another and even more important reason to study history. That is we can start to see patterns in human behavior and history. Let's look at an interesting and recent phenomena. This to be more specific is the Nazi's rise to power in Germany. The Nazi's rise to power centered around violent rhetoric and action all the while they had a scapegoat. For the Nazi party's message to get through though they had to have one uncontrollable element in their favor. That element was fear. Through the deft manipulation of fear and the use of violence the Nazis rose to power by blaming all their problems on a single minority group the Jews. The Nazis spread false stories about how it was the Jews who ruined their economy and how the Jews lost the war for the Germans. Does this sound familiar to a certain party centering around a hot beverage?

    There are certainly elements that are very similar with the Tea Partiers and what the Nazis were saying. Am I saying that the Tea Party are cold blooded killers bent on the Mexicans death. No, well at least not yet. What I am saying though is that we are starting down the same path that the Germany did so many years ago. This can be stopped if we allow it to. If we know the patterns, which fortunately most of us do.

    What of the next generations if their history education is cut. Will they be able to recognize patterns that they would not know existed. Would they be able to understand the issues they are facing have connections to their ancestors problems?  Of course not how can someone know something without being taught.

    Humanity's essence is habits and patterns that is the way we are. Our history is our future.