Americans Find History Boring? (Not Surprised)




 
It upsets me when I think about this.  A recent report came out stating that only 13% of high school seniors showed that they had a solid grasp of the subject.  As horrendous as that stat sounds, it is actually an improvement from 1994.  Some claim this poor score comes from a heavier emphasis on Math and Science due to the No Child Left Behind law, but I feel that it is something other than that.  I'm a historian, and more specifically, a military historian.  I've been this way since I was in the 4th grade watching my dad play war games on the tops of tables with miniature, hand-painted, soldiers.  The idea of this game caught my attention, so I strove to learn more about the different time periods.  Ancient Rome to the Seven Years War (French and Indian War in America), American Revolution, Napoleonic Era, WWII etc...  Why or how did I become interested in history?  Why is it so few feel the same way about history?  It's simple.
History is fascinating to me.  How many people enjoy listening to their older relatives telling stories about what they did as kids?  Why is it that only few of those enjoy history?  The answers I have are the curriculum, the textbooks, and the lack of caring.  Going through school, especially junior high and high school, history was taught in a boring manner.  Memorizing dates, people, and why certain things were important, was done in a boring fashion.  Think about it.  What do you know of WWII?  Hitler bad.  America good.  Japanese attacked us without us knowing.  The one question that is rarely taught in the schools is "Why?" Honestly, think about why WWII started.  Do you know why Hitler invaded Poland?  Do you know why Japan attacked us?  Do you know why the atomic bomb was dropped?  I can almost guarantee you that about 10% of people in this country would know the "true" answers to these questions.  We know that Hitler invaded Poland causing Britain and France to declare war on Germany.  We know that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 to bring us into the war.  We know that we dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to bring the end of the war.  We know what, who, and where, but history is fascinating when you ask why.  I'll give an example.
1. Why did Hitler start WWII?
    Answer:  Would you believe that it is because of an event that happened 20 years before?  20 years before was the Treaty of Versailles which brought about the end of WWI.  Now to fully understand the answer, we need to know how WWI was started.  The Black Hand (a group of assassins from Serbia) was hired to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was heir to the throne of Austria, in an attempt to break off from Austria to form their own Slavic country.  The assassination was successful and what followed was the second deadliest conflict in Western history.  Austria declared war on Serbia in retaliation, causing Russia to decalre war on Austria, since Serbia was allied with Russia.  Germany declared war on Russia due to Germany being allied with Austria.  France was allied with Russia and therefore was at war with Germany by association, hence Germany declares war on France.  Germany then invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and France in an attempt to take Paris.  End result was Germany and her allies being defeated.  At the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was blamed for starting the war.  You're probably asking yourself how, or why.  That's good if you are.  Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria, then Germany declared war, yet they are blamed for starting the war.  They were an easy scapegoat.  An easy target.  The Austrian Empire didn't exist anymore.  Germany was next in line.  Germany was forced to reduce its military to 1,000 troops total.  They were not allowed to have a Navy, or Air Force.  They were also forced to pay war reparations, but the amount was never defined.  One year it would be a certain amount, but the next year it would be even more.  The following year would be more, and eventually Germany would be paying millions of dollars every year with no end in sight.  When Hitler came to power he demanded that money be printed in an effort to pay the amount demanded by the British and French.  Eventually, Germany went into a depression because of this.  Hitler decided to do away with the Treaty.  He started building up the military, including building ships and planes.  He was able to recruit people to follow him because they were just as tired of the Treaty as he was.  So because of the winning powers of WWI, WWII was fought which ended up being the bloodiest conflict in world history costing 60 million lives, and they built the foundation for one of the craziest people ever to gain power.  How many textbooks have told you this part of the story? 

That's my point.  Schools are set to only teach the same story over and over and over and over.  Would people be interested in math if the curriculum stayed on addition and subtraction through senior year in high school?  How about science?  Would it be interesting if you only learned about "water is a liquid and air is a gas" through senior year in high school?  Why is it that the material for every other subject evolves to keep up with maturing minds, yet the curriculum of history remains the same no matter what grade?  Granted the events, people, and dates don't change, but neither does 2+2.  Adding more to the story will make it more interesting.  Math evolves from learning basic addition and subtraction to Trigonometry.  Science evolves from learning the kingdoms of organisms, to physics and molecular biology etc...  History stays the same.  Fifth grade American history class:  American Revolution 1775-1783.  Ok.  Got that.  Eighth grade American history class teaches: American Revolution 1775-1783.  Got it.  Eleventh grade American history: American Revolution 1775-1783.  How about something with a little more detail or deeper understanding of the American Revolution.  What did it accomplish?  How was it fought?  How did it help George Washington become president?  No wonder it's boring for most people.  There's only so many times that you can be told that Hitler was bad, and he started WWII which was won because America entered the war and fought in France, marching their way to Berlin where the Nazis were eliminated and Hitler committed suicide.  Yeah.  You know the what.  You know the where, and who, but you weren't taught why.

Of course history isn't just wars, or military actions.  History is anything about how or why something came to be.  I recommend that everybody should pick a period of time that they find interesting and just go searching.  If you are a fan of Shakespeare, learn about the time period he lived.  If you like politics, learn how our system of government was formed.  If you like movies, learn how movies evolved.  It's all history.
I will say this, I had the oppotunity to march in the inaugural parade for Bush's second term.  I don't care what your politics are, or if you like him or not.  He was president for two terms, get over it.  Anyway, while in D.C. we were allowed to go visit the monuments and memorials.  This turned out to be history lessons from me to most of the marching band, (yes I was a band nerd), and some strangers who were merely passing by.  What I found interesting was that, for the most part people find history boring.  It's just memorizing dates, people, and events without application, yet for 2-3 hours I had the attention of everybody I was talking to.  I wasn't reteaching what they knew about a certain monument.  I was teaching additional information about the monument and showing how they could apply what they learned.  Little factoids that would only help you if you were on Jeopardy, but are still interesting to know.  An example would be that the Vietnam Wall is the only monument in D.C. that is black.  The reason being that the artist, who was female, wanted the wall to be black so it would show a reflection of you  looking at it.  It would make your reflection seem like the soul of one of those names on the wall.  It makes the wall seem alive.  Kinda like if the "soul" was staring back.  In the DVD made about our trip, unknown to me, there was an entire chapter dedicated to my tour of D.C.  Apparently my little tour was being filmed by a member of the band, but what I found fascinating was that I held the interest of everybody who was listening.  I gained that knowledge because I was always asking the questions of why and how. 
History isn't boring.  It can be if the same thing is taught numerous times over the course of a few years.  Instead of only memorizing who the Americans fought in the Revolution, or when and where, ask why.  You could also ask, why or how we won.  Farmers beat one of the most powerful armies in the world.  How or why?  History is only as interesting as you make it, same with being boring.  Pick something you are interested in, and learn how it came about.  You'd be surprised what you can dig up.  The information is out there. 


I've decided that I will use some posts for history lessons that will vary in time periods.  They will usually be about military history, but every now and then I will enlighten those who choose to listen, with things that have nothing to do with wars.