Why the hate with History?

[Timotei]

While I was attending History class today I realized during our lecture on the causes of the American Revolution just how little my fellow students actually know or seemed to care. Nobody ever answers any of the questions the teacher asks, which pretty much means that I have to answer the question if the lesson is to continue. You would think that American students would have some idea of the cause of the Revolution, but no. I mean it's U.S. History for Haruhi's sake and they don't even know when the war started or ended.

It turns out that most of the blithering, texting sheep in my class received their lesson on History from School House Rock, which has embedded into their head that England sought to control the colonies because George was a greedy, evil prick. They also seem to have it in their heads that the colonies were at the top of Britain's list of priorities.

I guess the question that was buried under my textual rant is: Why doesn't this generation of students seem to care for the history of their own nation, or any at all?

 

[HardRockSamurai]

While I was attending History class today I realized during our lecture on the causes of the American Revolution just how little my fellow students seemed to care....why doesn't this generation of students seem to care for the history of their own nation, or any at all?

...ummm...they were in a classroom right? In school yes? That might explain the inattentiveness.

Hell, the only class in school I ever got psyched for was lunch.

[small]...and still I only passed with a C...[/small]

 

[blankedboy]

Because they're idiots. Don't feel bad, it's just that there are VERY few people of this generation whose heads work.

This happens to me, too.

 

[RavingPenguin]

History is something that can be forced into your skull. One has to want to learn it, and alot of that is enjoyment. My history teacher throughout high school was very interesting, he told stories of the past, had us draw out our own battle plans, explained why things turned out the way the did, and generally made the class fun. Sure there were a few dull day, but overall it was always one of the classes I looked forward to most.

 

[Xyphon]

I never liked History class that much. I enjoyed reading the text books, but I just didn't bloody care. I focus on the present and future, not the past. What happened in the past needs to stay there and not be brought into the present. In my opinion at least.

Besides, every History teacher I've had was some boring old prick that spoke like the guy in the "clear-eye" commercials.

Edit: Damn typos.

 

[Scumpernickle]

Well because current politics or laws barely resemble the guidelines that the Constitution made. The RIAA charges a minimum of $750,000 a song that you download, and that breaks the 8'th Amendment. "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

So it wouldn't suprise me that these sheep don't care. Personally I do care about learning about our nation's past and the mistakes we made so we can correct our own. But the youth of today are so busy with their social connections to realize that if they get bad grades they could end up with the worst imaginable job on this planet.

Although there is still some hope, somewhere beyond all of these fields of sheep.

Pardon my rage.

 

[SonicKoala]

It's out of an unfounded sense of apathy - people seem to have this idea that history is insignificant; its happened, there's no need to consider it. Personally, I think that's absoloutely ludacris. To understand the history of one's nation is to essentially understand where you came from (not necessarily you as the individual, but the society that you live in, and the events that affect you every single day of your life). I love history (it is my major), and I frankly have no patience for these intellectually vacant individuals.

 

[Insanum]

Because there is no lasers.

Honestly though? Well my history classes just consisted of talking about the industrial revolution (Importants, but REALLY boring) And WW2.

WW2 is important, Dont get me wrong, But there was so much talk on things like farming, Instead of the Technical specifications on the weapons & armor.

Ok, Lets look at this another way:

At the end of the day I know that If The allies lost the war then things would be very different, BUT it has no effect on the future now. Its happened & nothing is going to change that.

American history (which i know very little of, But im still pissed you guys wasted tea.) isnt taught over here (or at least not to me) and sufficed to say, It seems REALLY boring.

 

[Acid Armageddon]

I personally LOVE history and am going to (hopefully) become a teacher of it quite soon!

 

[Hypocratic Oath]

Because we've had it beaten into our skulls already? it's school and not the most likable of things? because i'm sure they'll turn out just as educated if they don't take VERY PERKY INTEREST IN THIS CLASS.

 

[Emphraim]

I've noticed this strange aversion to history even in my school which is filled with generally very smart people.

I like history and find it interesting. It helps that I find it easy to memorize long lists of boring facts as required in history. I suppose many people don't like it because of the simple memorization required, unlike the critical thinking used in a lot of other classes.

 

[RavingPenguin]

Snip

Learning of WW2 is important not for knowing who killed whom but for the events leading up to the war and the events directly after. I spent an entire college semester primarily on that time period learning of governmental institutions and beliefs from that time and what we can do with those ideals in our modern era.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I find history interesting, well, the wars and stuff like that, I couldn't give a shit less about learning about cultures and domestic politics. I think the main reason it's shunned is that it's not very useful in the average highschooler's life. It's useful in debates, politics, and things like that, but very few professions really use it, so if you don't plan on going on to doing those things, what's the point?

... Nah im bullshitting ya, highschoolers aren't that analytical, they don't like it because it doesn't involve gossip that cindy is cheating on tom or some gay shit like that.

 

[Captain_Caveman]

It's the same w/ most kids & always has been.

The younger you are the more you think you know. The older you are the more you realize you don't.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

It isn't an American only problem. I would say it is a pretty general attitude among pre-teens and teenagers (Or, if you will, Everyone in the basic shooling system) that History and Social Science aren't the most exciting of subjects. While I disagree with them, and consider history one of the funnier things to read about, I can't say that I don't understand them.

What does it matter to me if the Swedish vikings were down in Constantinople in the 9th and 10th centuries? How does the Kalmar Union affect me today? Why do I need to know how the swedish democratic process developed? What point is there in knowing all the reasons behind the Crimean war? It is a shortcoming of the educational system today, that it still expects its' students to just learn what it tells them to learn. Whereas most young people today are very informed about their right to choose and want to learn the things they think are important. History isn't one of them.

 

[Neonbob]

I was able to get through History by memorizing the stuff in the book.
But afterwords? It got purged.
Honestly, I don't need to remember who invented x at y time, or when some law was passed as much as I need to memorize a bunch of mathematical formulas and computer algorithms.
In other words, history lessons were a bunch of extraneous data for me.

 

[AvsJoe]

I was lucky enough to have pretty interesting history teachers most of the time so I actually got into learning about the past in those classes. But when I didn't have a fun teacher who played movies every Friday or something, I just didn't care at all. The problem with history class is that it's very unlikely to help you later in life other than maybe reciting a couple of kickass quotes at the right time or answering an obscure Jeopardy question. How is knowing who Franz Ferdinand's assassin going to help me when it's crunch time and I have to get a project for work done?

Besides, history is extremely boring when the subject isn't WWII or some other major conflict.

 

[ottenni]

What happened in the past needs to stay there and not be brought into the present. In my opinion at least.

Besides, every History teacher I've had was some boring old prick that spoke like the guy in the "clear-eye" commercials.

Edit: Damn typos.

So of i where to build a time machine and bring to our present time, say, George Washington, Nero and Genghis Khan you'd be coming to get me right?

But back on topic id say history is unpopular because it has been stereotyped as being boring so people go into it trying to dislike it.

 

[Ismix]

Being an American student, and being in Middle school not long ago, I have an answer:

The current American Generation is insanely lazy. I'm proud of it, but others may not be.

 

[The_Prophet]

While I was attending History class today I realized during our lecture on the causes of the American Revolution just how little my fellow students actually know or seemed to care. Nobody ever answers any of the questions the teacher asks, which pretty much means that I have to answer the question if the lesson is to continue. You would think that American students would have some idea of the cause of the Revolution, but no. I mean it's U.S. History for Haruhi's sake and they don't even know when the war started or ended.

It turns out that most of the blithering, texting sheep in my class received their lesson on History from School House Rock, which has embedded into their head that England sought to control the colonies because George was a greedy, evil prick. They also seem to have it in their heads that the colonies were at the top of Britain's list of priorities.

I guess the question that was buried under my textual rant is: Why doesn't this generation of students seem to care for the history of their own nation, or any at all?

Because life currently sucks and we need to focus on the present.

Historia magistra vitae est. 'nuff said.
OT: Same here. I don't know why they don't care. Then again they all yell how CS 1.6 is the best and make wurst jokes on German class.