From reading recent posts in the AHA forum, it seems that history is taking a back-seat in certain department reorganizations at 4 year and some 2 year higher education institutions? History has become, in some places, a threatened discipline. A history class can provide a wonderful forum to test the values of evaluative thinking and help students engage in questioning their societies and civilizations. It is a discussion that can lead to self-discovery. We can look at today’s roots and sometimes discover together the historical moment the issue emerged. Slavery still exists in the world, as does oppression, violence including rape, discrimination, and at the same time hope. Maybe history can help us figure out where some humans keep going wrong while others move toward hopefully elevating the world and striving for hope. Last year, we learned that some high schools in American were teaching that African slaves were “workers” and not slaves. How can we sanitize history in this way?
Maybe an ethics course looking at the historical roots of ideas is worth considering. Some of my best classes focus on these questions, “What is truth?” “Is the truth good or bad in nature?” or “Do rights matter?” We even look at “Who is Human” in history and do “Human Rights” change over time. Just a thought,
Sue K.
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