why study history 4

Educators of all kinds have stated the necessity of studying history if one is to understand his present circumstances. The society in which we live is a result of the sequence of events which we call history.

You can find statements to that effect even in the New History Standards that are being pushed at the American children by humanist organizations such as U.S. Dept. of Education and the National History Standards groups. They clearly recognize the importance of having children taught to understand things based on the way 'they' want the children to see the world.

Consider a graph of the path of a ball in flight.
The path will trace an arc that goes up and comes down; but if you just look at one point on that graph, then you don't get the whole picture. You have to look at it all. If you just see the ball in one moment of time...then you don't see much. When you see where the ball began and where it moved, then you can really know where you are now, and where you're going next. There is little perception of where you're going next until you see the direction in which you have been traveling.

Until you know where you came from, how can you know where you're going. When you know what direction you're traveling, then you can know where you're headed.

To know what direction you're traveling is to know the past of your travel, ie the history of your travel.

It is the same thing in life. You must see the history before you can understand where you are and where things are headed