Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Article #71 History and Me

If you're like most kids, HISTORY of any kind is/was your most boring subject in school. I remember memorizing facts in elementary school on up to college just to pass tests while having no interest at all in the subject.

It wasn't until I matured (read aged a bit) that I began to see the interaction between HISTORY and ME. My awareness may have started when I became aware that I had Mormon pioneers who immigrated from Europe to America after their conversion. I was curious about their homelands and lives there. Also traveling in Europe and other places in the world made me aware of the great differences between countries and cultures. Which led me to say...How come?

Well, being a curious person, I started reading history books for my own personal satisfaction and not to fulfill requirements for a class or to study for a test. Now I was motivated to learn. Perhaps if I'd had a really good HISTORY teacher sometime in my school days, I would have had more interest in this subject earlier.

Nowadays, I'm amazed by what I don't know. Reading the newspaper or watching TV I keep finding subjects that I know nothing about. Lately, we've taken to watching documentary DVDs about the HISTORY of America and I have learned so much more about my own country's development and struggles. I never really understood much about the War of 1812 until I studied it more. Of course watching a well organized DVD is so much easier than reading a dry boring HISTORY book with few illustrations.

As I've studied the lives of my early ancestors, I realized their histories needed to be written so my family members would know more of our heritage and background. That's how my interest in HISTORY really developed when I began the search for my genealogical ROOTS 49 years ago while a college student. I think if I were to start over in college, I'd be apt to major in HISTORY and/or writing. I love HISTORY of any kind.

Tell us how you feel about this topic.

9 comments:

  1. While I'm not yet at the 'loving" history stage, I'm certainly progressing. I, too, disliked the study of history while in school. Right now I'm reading "Mary," the life of Mary Todd Lincoln. Very interesting.

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  2. Good for you, Lin. I have never been very interested history. I thought it was the most boring subject in school. I appreciate it a bit more now, but obviously not to the extent you do.

    Enjoy.

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  3. when i was in school History was just another subject we had to learn....and as i grew and travelled i realized the things that i have started loving the most like the ruins, the museums, the architectures all have history behind them....well history is certainly more interesting out of its text books. lol!!!

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  4. Lin...even if history was not my most fav. subject i never disliked it,history interested me(accept for those dates..lol)....but once into medical field i lost my touch....your post is kind of evoking an interest again...may be..

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  5. History was boring only because of the dry way it was presented (could say that of a number of other subjects as well). I can't get enough of it now!

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  6. Yikes, I have to admit that I enjoyed history. I must have had a great teacher. My oldest son is an avid history buff and my husband is as well.

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  7. History, like any other subject, is only meaningful if we can make connections, either with our own lives, or with people or places we encounter. I became much more interested in US history when I traveled to historic places on our east coast. The same was true of traveling in Europe. "Seeing" history makes it more meaningful. It's too bad we have to wait until we are "old" to get a chance to experience history. But it is exactly because we are old, because we've had so many more experiences, that we are able to now make those connections. It's hard to bring that to the classroom for 12 to 18 year olds.

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  8. I know of a social studies teacher who worked to help kids make a personal connection with the town they lived in so they would feel invested in its future as well as in their own. He brought the town to life for the kids. I think you are like-minded people!

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  9. I really feel everybody needs to learn history to understand the present and the future. My mother is forever telling me that and I can see her wisdom now.

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