Taking a page from the “when I was your age/in school” program…
When I was in school, it seems the only thing history teachers knew was how to drum dates and colonial laws into the heads of their students.
I loathed history class. It made the subject so boring and frustrating.
It wasn’t until I began to learn about my own history and the role some of my ancestors played in it that I really became interested.
What would be so hard about actually TEACHING history???? Help students learn about where they came from and how their ancestors helped to shape the world we know today.
Granted, not everyone is going to have a family member who is engrossed in the family’s genealogy; but, surely a trace of a generation or two could prove to be very interesting.
I have a friend whose grandfather was born into slavery! Imagine, just two generations away. My friend’s mother was the youngest of a large family, so it is possible. She died a few years ago at the age of 102!
In many ways, grand and great-grand parents are walking history books that could tell us far more than any history books.
My dad’s side of the family – the Nordic clan – has a family association that puts out a newsletter. Among the articles in that newsletter are pieces about historic events and people in the family.
Between them and a stepmother who was big into genealogy, I know that my family was among those that helped found, build, and defend this country even before it had a name.
History teachers need to start actually teaching history and worry less with all the dates. The dates we can look up; the other is priceless bits about who we are.
I had a physics teacher in college who never insisted we memorize all those formulas. He noted that scientists always look that stuff up anyway. The trick was knowing which formulas would solve which problems. He would allow everyone to bring in a piece of paper with all the formulas we thought we might need on test day. The hard part would be knowing what formula to use.
Teaching should spark interest enough for the students to want to find out more; not be bored stiff from trying to remember what happened on whatever date.
LOL, had a teacher in eighth grade (American history) that asked the question of the meaning of impeach on a test. One student wrote to take the fuzz off of a peach!