Thread: What good is teaching history if we ourselves as a nation dont learn from it?

We are in an economic depression right now but what about the Great Depression of 1929?? I learned that in History class but isnt that point of teaching history is to learn from your mistakes?? what good is teaching history if history repeats itself?? I could give you many more examples but you get the point.

No good at all at least not in the USA
Vietnam = Afghanistan = Iraq

History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided. ~Konrad Adenauer

Schools are for dumbing down, not for learn things like true history, as it's a form of control of the masses, and goes way back well past Roman times, I mean how many kids are told about who the Druids were? Why our Law courts are only using Admiralty and Cannon law instead of our rightful Common law? No we are only told what how good the Romans were, as their army may have left but their Churches staid to rule.
A wise man once said 'that Governments don't make mistakes, it something happens, then it was meant to'.
The people are Sovereign, but need to stand up and exercise it, as no government can give you rights, you were born with them, so no one can give you something they haven't got.

That's the thing. We're not being taught history in schools. If we were there would be a lot more anger over the actions of the federal government the past 4 years. Yes, History repeats itself, but everytime we make the same mistake we learn a little bit more about ourselves and how to correct it.

Example:

1840's-1890: Forceful removal of Native Americans from their native lands to reservations

1942-45: Forceful movement of hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans into Internment Camps. (somewhat better treatment)

War on Terror: If the terrorsist attacks on September 11th 2001 happened on September 11th 1941 ALL of the Muslims would have been rounded up and placed in internment camps. Instead, only terrorists have been sent there (Though some may have been sent to prison by error of intelligence).

I don't condone the actions, but it's with the horror of the knowledge of what we've done is what prevents us from making it as bad as during the Indian Wars. If the terror attacks happened 150 years ago most if not all of them would have ended up dead or worse.

But as I said. We aren't being taught history. The public schools are more concerned with saying that if you're rich, white or both then you are a bad person.

I reject the premise that we don't learn from history, or at least that our leaders do not. They understand the implications of their actions. The economic depression going on now, for example, is deliberate policy. The economists and various think tanks that run this country are not dumb. The arrest of Muslims, the terrorizing of other ethnic americans such as what is going on now in Arizona, the Bank bailouts, the widening of the Military and Prison Industrial Complexes, etc, are being purposely orchestrated to turn the U.S. into a kind of third world nation. Poor people are easier to control than the financially secure.

Teaching History in History class is better than teaching Home Economics in History class.

What about the Great Depression of 1929? Did your History teacher tell you that in all capitalist economies there is a continual cycle that includes a depression about every decade? Perhaps not, the one thing they will not teach you in History class is that the economic system that benefits a few and leaves the masses to struggle for a fraction of the real wealth is not balanced or fair. No, those who place their faith and wealth in the capitalist economic system are the "cut and run" types who steal as much as they can then leave - did you learn anything about either the Savings & Loan scandal or the Enron scandal in class today?

We ourselves as a nation need to go to war to:

a. amuse ourselves (just like in the video games - Modern Warfare 2)

b. find work for the military (both public and especially private contractors - Blackwater, Haliburton)

c. recover some of the lost glory from World War II - we lost our role as liberators in Vietnam)

You have only provided one example - so I have answered you with two examples. In fact, you will learn a lot more History outside of school than you ever will inside school.

Did you learn from it, instead of treating it like liturgy?
It is only the bad workman who blames his 'tools'. You need some brains even to 'learn'.
Read extensively about history from all parts of globe and not selectively from a 'niche' civilisation; it is useless. It serves a negative purpose of promoting a philosophy not much different from 'Nazism' (you'll be suprised to learn that Hitler was an ardent student of History as was Stalin).
There should be no comparisons between peoples, no patronising. You can only learn from them by 'empathising'. Conditions, situations differ from place to place based on geographical and cultural (consequently) factors. So a solution in North America 'bombs' in Africa or 'Nam. You can see proof of this statement everywhere but the charade goes on relentlessly.
Historians normally suffer from a mental disease called 'misinterpretation' as men fail to surmount the limitations of their origins, circumstances and resulting attitudes. You can't expect a white American whose ancestors were from Scotland to think like a Vietnamese and plan ahead! Remedy lies (in times of peace) in wide ranging discussions that can lead to understanding of the others' countervailing view. This ought to be the stuff, of what makes the UN 'tick'.
A country who closes itself into the shell of (national) Paranoia can only do mistakes and nothing else. If a terrorist can push a country into that slot he has achieved his aim (of terrorising). This was what Michael Gorbachev realised, recognised and remedied. Russians, for generations to come will treasure it and recall it with gratitude. Japanese had their fling with 'Militarism' being driven by ambitious and self-serving countrymen who cared the least for the country and took it to Hell. It only goes to prove that this kind of super or hyper -patriotism actually destroys one's own motherland (or fatherland). Others had to intervene in Japan to salvage it back to sanity. Calender-wise, Today is the (55th anniversary) day between 'the two bombs', which taught a lesson or two to them. Imperialism began with Romans and lasted till (nominally)1945. It is a curse upon humanity and is dead but its spirit lingers on, craving to be put to rest. But there are enough number of people who are ardent students of history and want to undo the historical 'ifs' of the past. They are to be found in every country. 'These' are a menace to humanity that men as well as countries need to guard against them. A poet in my language (Sree Sree) pointed (pitfalls of patriotism) it out and warned in 1945. 'Karma' is the sum-total of the past actions (you call it History, if it is holistic and not peace-meal) and the consequences of its visitations can't be stalled. Men do wrong things (apparently) wantonly as 'quick-fix' not bothered about its long-term consequences. You can rely upon a military man, who has a name - 'Tactics' for it, to indulge in it. Human expectation to escape from it, is not cleverness but folly, revelation coming only after the event (post facto) is past. It is better to wake up and see what is coming, which like I said earlier, needs a look at history in a larger setting.
Lastly, it is very refreshing and exciting in Y!A that in tandem with Wiki, is doing its bit to clear mental cobwebs of history, offering Y!A as a forum for "All" (wo)men who can think. Hats off to both !