“Why history?”
I used to be asked this question quite often, especially when I was a college freshman, be it in family gatherings or classroom and organization orientations. People wondered–and I think, still wonder why–I chose a course like history when other courses out there are deemed “more useful” or “more practical” in the age of business, information, science and technology.
However, more than a question of course and, possibly, career choice, I think the question is also worth asking on a more philosophical level: What is it with history and why should we study it?
As a discipline, there are several reasons as to why studying history is of value.
In an age where information is so abundant and accessible, it is more important than ever to know how to properly scrutinize sources of data: To select which bits of information are relevant, to be critical of the claims and arguments that are made in these sources, and to question the credibility and verity of these very sources of information.
The discipline of history teaches that. Furthermore, students of history are taught how to communicate effectively, both in the written and oral medium, something that is necessary not only in the realm of history but in other fields as well.
More than developing skills on scrutinizing sources and communicating effectively though, I think that the value of history and studying it lies in the name itself. History is a story.
A story is not just a bunch of disparate details put together by the author, which oftentimes, history is misconceived to be. Many people think of history as simply being a bunch of facts about individuals and events that have already passed. This is further driven by the notion that to study history is to memorize dates of past events and names of dead people. While inevitably, history and by extension, stories, do involve these pieces of information, they are certainly more than that.
Stories are not just data, but data that contain and evoke emotion. We are drawn to stories not because of the content, but because of the unifying emotional idea that comes along with it. Stories are coherent. They have meaning and relevance for us, which is why we become so captivated by them. Likewise, with history, we do not study it to learn the past for the past itself. We study history because we hope that in learning more about the past, we can understand our present and consequently, ourselves, more. In a way, through history, the past is made alive and present.
However, studying history has not only made the past come alive—studying history has also kept us alive. One of my Western history teachers once said, “We don’t learn history to learn from other people’s mistakes. We learn history to understand our mistakes.” We may not notice it, but in one way or another, we use history as a guide on what to do and what not to do.
In this sense, the practicality of history is not simply about future employability or financial security. It is something that is more basic: History can teach us how to live. It is our story, one that is worth telling and even more worth learning from. I may not have chosen history as my major for this particular reason, but it’s definitely one of the main reasons why I choose to stay.
