More on the Importance of History

About three years ago, I wrote an article called "The Importance of History."(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/50133/the_importance_of_history.html?cat=4) Three years and a lot of students have taught me a lot since then. Some of these lessons I would like to share with you as a way to help us all better understand how to convince students of history's importance.

Lesson 1: Knowing history can make you rich! This seems like a fantastic claim sure to make historians chuckle, but I use this statement frequently when teaching about the California Gold Rush. I tell students about how the only people who got rich during the gold rush were the people who sold mining equipment. Then I tell them the story of Samuel J. Brannan, who bought up every shovel, pick, pan and hoe in the city of San Francisco before running through the streets shouting "GOLD! GOLD ON THE AMERICAN RIVER!" I then tell them about other people who found out quick where the real money was: like Philip Armour, who used his meat-cutting money to start Armour Meats, and Levi Strauss, who used his knack for making durable pants to make himself and his descendants very wealthy. Students like hearing these stories, but there is a valuable lesson in it for them. They grow up on TV and the Internet, both of which are inundated with "get rich quick" schemes. Armed with this new knowledge, they not only know that these schemes are mostly a racket, but I may also be helping to create a new generation of entrepreneurs...hopefully none of which will go on to create a "Go to this website and make $50,000 a week!" scheme of their own!

Lesson 2: Knowing history can help you stay rich! Knowing just a little about how speculating (high-risk investments) led to numerous panics, recessions and depressions over the years will give students keen insight on avoiding speculation in current times, like in the housing market, or oil futures for instance. When the bottom falls out, they'll be able to hang on to their investments in the midst of chaos like we're experiencing now.

Lesson 3: Knowledge is a tool, how you use it is up to you. I had a particularly challenging case a couple of years ago with a student who continually insisted that history was unimportant. After going through all of my arguments, she was still obstinate: "I still don't see why I need to know this stuff," she'd say. I finally told her that knowledge of any kind is like a kitchen gadget (she was going to be a chef, she said). Some gadgets you may need only once, some you may not need at the moment, but there may be an unforeseen event that happens and you may. Then again, you may never use it at all, but. it is better to have something you don't need than to need what you don't have. This sounded like a cop-out to me, but to my surprise, she finally stopped insisting that history was "useless."

Lesson 4: Get out of the Middle Ages! Teaching history doesn't have to be "chalk and talk" lecturing or "read this chapter and complete the 'I hate you' worksheet I'm giving you." Use political cartoons from the past and present to teach about events, and the use of pictures in advertising....seeing as how a political cartoon is basically an advertisement for a point of view. With the availability of slide-making software like Powerpoint and movie making software, there's n o limit to what you can personally do for them or what they can do as assignments. Don't have Powerpoint? It's available for FREE at http://docs.google.com ! Not only is the software free to use, but it can be accessed from ANYWHERE! So, you don't have to have access to a computer lab to give an assignment. Do you have students without Internet access? Partner them with students who do! Do I really need to point out the practical applications of teaching students to use technology in your history class?

Remember, your class is only as irrelevant as you make it!