Why Study History?

By Christopher Zehnder

General Editor, Catholic Textbook Project

I suppose I was an annoying student to my high school teachers. I was wont to ask them what I thought trenchant questions that, to them, must have seemed merely contentious. I recall once asking my algebra teacher why I had to study algebra. He replied that algebra was useful in a number of professions, and he listed them for me. When he had done, I thought I had him. “But I don't want to be any of those things,” I told him. I recall that, rather than betraying any indication of discomfiture, he looked me straight in the eye, arched one eyebrow, and said: “O.K., fine. But, do you want to pass the test?” I did not find his reply at all intellectually compelling, but I could feel the force of it all the same. I went home and studied my algebra and (I think) I passed the test.

Historia, by Nikolaos Gysis

            I admit, having taught high school myself, that I feel more sympathy for my algebra teacher than I do for my erstwhile self. He dealt with a smart aleck in what he thought the most effective way. And it worked, at least to some extent. (I was not a stellar math student.) At the same time, I conclude that his answer was not as convincing as my question was honest. I was not simply being difficult; I did want to know why. His answer betrayed that he, perhaps, knew no better than I did why any but a narrow category of people seeking to enter certain professions should study algebra.

            It is this and similar experiences that convinced me of the importance of giving a good account, at least to older students, of the why of a subject. Students need to understand why a course of study is more than a mere hurdle they need to clear in order to graduate. Students need to see that what they study has intrinsic worth or, at least, is of import to them as human beings and not simply as potential members of a work force. I am speaking here, of course, not of subjects studied in vocational training but of the academic disciplines (such as mathematics, grammar, literature, music, natural science, theology, and history). For it is the aim of these disciplines (at least as they have been traditionally understood) to form the inner man, not to train the working man.

            It is not my intent to give a justification for each of the academic disciplines. I shall, instead, limit myself to the why of history. Personally, I never needed to know why I needed to study history, for I have always loved history. When I was young, if anyone had asked me why I read so much history, I would have said, “because it is interesting.” However, as many teachers and home schooling parents have experienced, not every student loves history. Some are indifferent to it. Others find it boring and irrelevant. Such students ask, “what importance do all these dead people and past events have to me and the world in which I live?” Indeed, there might even be teachers and parents out there asking the same question.

            Over the next few weeks, I shall write a series of posts giving various reasons why the study of history is important and necessary to a well-rounded academic program. It is my contention that history is not simply interesting but important to the full development of a student as a human person. Moreover, I shall argue that history is not only relevant but central to the formation of a truly Catholic sense of the world in which we live and the part each of us plays in it.

            Please join me in this discussion. 

               

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