David McCullough, the author of prize winning biographies and histories, had this to say about history at the National Conference of State Legislatures:
David McCullough:
"History is not about dates, and quotes, and obscure provisos. History is about life, about change, about consequences, cause and effect. It's about the mystery of human nature, the mystery of time. And it isn't just about politics, and the military, and social issues, which is almost always the way it's taught. It's about music, and poetry, and drama, and science, and medicine, and money, and love."
History is the story of humanity. Without history we cannot begin to understand what it means to be human. Without history we cannot improve our society, nor protect the progress we have made. Without history we cannot give our children a better life, nor even plan on leaving them at least with the benefits we received from our parents.
We must provide our children with a good grounding in history. And we adults need to maintain a life of learning, constantly adding to our knowledge of the story of humanity, growing in wisdom as an example to our children.
Robert Canright
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
History is the foundation of education. Everything should be taught in is historical context. It even makes science and math more interesting, as they are then placed into a narrative -- and humans learn best through narrative.
I like your choice of word: narrative. History truly is the narrative of humanity.
It is after all hi-story. There is a story there.
Post a Comment