A series of essays....
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| THE DECLINE OF HISTORICAL THINKING BY ERIC ALTERMAN |
....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
A recent article in The New Yorker states that there is a huge decline in historical thinking. (Eric Alterman, published on February 4, 2019). Mr. Alterman claims that, “For the past decade, on American campuses, history has been declining more rapidly than any other major, even as more and more students attend college.” He also believes that, “The steep decline in history graduates is most visible beginning in 2011 and 2012. Evidently, after the 2008 financial crisis, students (and their parents) felt a need to pick a major in a field that might place them on a secure career path.”
With the base cost of an undergrad education rising swiftly, this approach by both middle class parents and their children would seem to make good sense. Student loans do not pay for themselves and only by securing a good job upon graduation would one be able to pay them off, eventually.
I can understand this line of thinking. I don’t like that it exists, but I can offer-up some of my own reactions, emotions, and reasons for this particular decline of History majors within our country’s higher education institutions.
After this current administration came into office and the likes of Betsy DeVos was slated to run the U.S. Department of Education, I began calling her new project ‘The Dumbing Down of America,’ and with good reason. The emphasis of each move she made was to slowly deteriorate our current public school system by any means possible. What better way to under educate and under develop our young minds than to take away sound, basic programs (the arts and science, reading programs, geography, history) that were previously in place in order to elevate the public school’s curriculum, spark imagination, and enhance the education of America’s youth? For me, DeVos and the current administration’s agenda was quite obvious right from the beginning and deemed highly compromising if planning out a prosperous future for our country.
The King of Lies who happens to reside in the White House today personally ignores the fact that it is clear that historical analysis would demonstrate that legal immigration into America has accounted for much of our creativity, innovation, and economic production. By ignoring the facts, misrepresenting our own history, and blatantly lying to the American public, “the Republicans have, for the past few decades, depended on Americans’ inability to make sense of history in judging their policies. Under Trump, they have succeeded in turning legal immigration into the excuse for all the country’s ills,” Mr. Alterman explains.
If we are educating someone to be able to handle all of life’s experiences, without having an historical background or any knowledge of the past they cannot be totally ready for life. The last generation, at least, have become people who live in the ‘now’ and often fail to recognize the importance of ‘where did we come from, how and why did we get to where we are today, and are we capable of knowing what mistakes we have made in the past so as not to repeat them?’ I’ve written before how instant gratification is the name of the game for so many of us today and our electronic devices have become attached to us in, sometimes, very unhealthy ways.
Walter Lippmann, an American writer, photographer, and activist, once warned nearly a century ago that, “Men who have lost their grip upon the relevant facts of their environment are the inevitable victims of agitation and propaganda. The quack, the charlatan, and the jingo (One who vociferously supports one's country, especially one who supports a belligerent foreign policy; a chauvinistic patriot)... can flourish only where the audience is deprived of independent access to information.” In other words, if the citizens of a nation have no knowledge of history, they are asking to be led by jingos!
The amassing of Trump lies just within the past two years of his presidency proves that he is a quack, a charlatan, and a jingo. And, unfortunately, as explained by Mr. Alterman, “Without more history majors, we are doomed to repeat him.”
Like a brand new parent, we learn to live with and by our own mistakes. And, by the time a second child comes along, we, with any luck, have become more prepared to handle the general welfare of our new ‘little one’ than we may have the first time around. So it goes with the works of historical fiction and non-fiction authors, storytellers, history professors, and the all important student graduating with a degree in history. Life comes around full circle and the more we can learn about ourselves, research that which came before us, and study the habits (right or wrong) of our ancestors, we will always be a step ahead in the game of life and discover the process of enclosing the circle that completes us.
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| IS THIS HOW WE WANT OUR HISTORY BOOKS TO LOOK IN THE FUTURE? |
Courtesy of roundex
We can ill afford to leave the pages of our history books empty. The generations that follow us will surely be deprived of independent thinking, as well as the access to information that will help shape a sound and prosperous future.
Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved
Excellent post! Even if one wants to go with a purely practical course of study, there is still room for history, philosophy, anthropology classes as electives. These courses give one the tools to think independently. One doesn't even have to study in school-there are on line courses, library books, etc. Our educational system has been so dumbed down that people don't even seem to read much. It's sad, and it's dangerous, as our times clearly show.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lauren. I thought I’d answered you the other day, but don’t see it showing up here. So, I will hope this one goes through.
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