Why Do We HAVE To Study HISTORY?! — Transcript

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1. 0:00okay so why do we have to study history
2. 0:03like
3. 0:03it's life-ruining it's not practical
4. 0:05it's not even one of the universally
5. 0:07praised
6. 0:07stem disciplines science technology
7. 0:09engineering and mathematics like those
8. 0:11are useful to the world but
9. 0:13history if we're not careful we start
10. 0:14thinking about history in terms of what
11. 0:16my grandpappy used to say son that is
12. 0:18about as useful as a bag of farts like
13. 0:20for many of you the school year is
14. 0:21starting next week and summer is drawing
15. 0:23to a close and when that school year
16. 0:25begins you're going to be taking ap
17. 0:26world history ap u.s history ap european
18. 0:29history
19. 0:29and maybe your guts pucker up tighter
20. 0:31than a snare drum of the thought of
21. 0:33taking those courses
22. 0:34so why in the world are you doing this i
23. 0:36mean i know it's required and if you're
24. 0:38taking ap it's because you want an
25. 0:39impressive transcript and credit in
26. 0:41college but let's be honest none of
27. 0:42those reasons gets you up in the morning
28. 0:44or makes your heart beat fast so let me
29. 0:46give you a couple of reasons
30. 0:47why we study history and i think if you
31. 0:50let them these
32. 0:51will make your heart beat fast and maybe
33. 0:53just
34. 0:54maybe help you enjoy the hard work that
35. 0:56lies ahead so let me give you three
36. 0:58reasons why i think the study of history
37. 1:00is worth your time reason number one
38. 1:02studying history teaches you how to
39. 1:04think and oh mylanta do we need people
40. 1:06who know how to think in this world but
41. 1:08that's not our typical experience of the
42. 1:10history class like ask anybody on the
43. 1:12street their opinion of learning history
44. 1:13would be pretty bleak because their
45. 1:15class went a little something like this
46. 1:16in 1930 the republican-controlled house
47. 1:19of representatives
48. 1:20in an effort to alleviate the effects of
49. 1:23the
50. 1:24anyone anyone the great depression
51. 1:27passed the anyone anyone
52. 1:31a tariff bill the holly smoot
53. 1:35tariff act which anyone raised or
54. 1:39lowered
55. 1:40raised tariffs no that's hilarious in
56. 1:42ferris bueller's day off but it is
57. 1:44tragic in real life because so many
58. 1:46people think
59. 1:46that's what history is it's just a
60. 1:48recounting of barren facts of the past
61. 1:51to which i say
62. 1:52who cares no that is not what history is
63. 1:55for
64. 1:55history is for learning how to think to
65. 1:58make claims based on the best evidence
66. 1:59available to construct
67. 2:00persuasive arguments and analysis and to
68. 2:03appreciate the foreignness of the past
69. 2:05to get comfortable with the utter
70. 2:06complexity of our world like it is a
71. 2:09classic power move for someone whether
72. 2:10they're a dictator or ridiculous cable
73. 2:12news pundit to reduce the complexity of
74. 2:15the world down to
75. 2:15us versus them or good versus evil but
76. 2:18anyone who has learned to think
77. 2:19historically knows
78. 2:20that real life is not that simple there
79. 2:22are a thousand competing explanations
80. 2:24for any given event and all of them have
81. 2:27some merit although some have more merit
82. 2:29than others in history class you're
83. 2:30going to learn what only history can
84. 2:32teach you namely to think about the
85. 2:33infinite complexity of the past in terms
86. 2:35of change
87. 2:36over time and cause and effect and
88. 2:37you're going to learn how to compare
89. 2:39disparate events and people and try to
90. 2:40come to terms with how they're similar
91. 2:42and how they're different and if in the
92. 2:44middle of that it feels like you're
93. 2:45drowning in complexity
94. 2:47then that means you're doing it right
95. 2:49let me just say it again we need we
96. 2:51need people in this world who are
97. 2:53capable of thinking in nuance and
98. 2:55complexity it's the study of history
99. 2:57that will deliver
100. 2:58such a posture of mind to you okay
101. 2:59reason number two the study of history
102. 3:01helps you navigate the present moment
103. 3:03this morning you woke up in a world in
104. 3:05which there are fiery political debates
105. 3:07raging in environmental concerns
106. 3:08plaguing us and social tension
107. 3:10dominating the national and
108. 3:11international discussion and let me be
109. 3:13plain science will not help you navigate
110. 3:15those tumultuous waters nor will
111. 3:16engineering or mathematics
112. 3:18to be clear those are all magnificent
113. 3:19disciplines for which i am grateful but
114. 3:21they will not help you understand why
115. 3:23politicians in many states are proposing
116. 3:25resolutions to ban certain historical
117. 3:27topics from being discussed in the k-12
118. 3:28classroom those disciplines will not
119. 3:30help you understand why a crowd of
120. 3:31people broke into the capitol building
121. 3:33on january 6 2021 looking to kill mike
122. 3:35pence and create havoc and reap
123. 3:37destruction
124. 3:37science will not even help you
125. 3:38understand why just a couple of months
126. 3:40ago israelis and palestinians began
127. 3:42trying to blow each other up but history
128. 3:44oh
129. 3:45baby history will help you understand
130. 3:47those events and come to conclusions
131. 3:49about what ought to be done and the
132. 3:50thing is we know this by instinct like
133. 3:52when you first meet a person supposing
134. 3:53you have some time with them the first
135. 3:55thing you want to know is like what's
136. 3:56your story where did you grow up and how
137. 3:58has that shaped you and why do we ask
138. 4:00those kinds of questions it's because
139. 4:02we know that everything that happened in
140. 4:03a person's past has some bearing on who
141. 4:05they are in the present and if you don't
142. 4:07understand their past
143. 4:09you certainly want to understand their
144. 4:10presence in fact the past is never
145. 4:12really passed because we as people
146. 4:14and we as societies carry it with us and
147. 4:16it haunts us every moment
148. 4:17of the present so why do we study
149. 4:19history in order to understand and
150. 4:21navigate the present moment okay reason
151. 4:23number three the study of history
152. 4:24bestows
153. 4:25virtue on its students that's a tasty
154. 4:28one
155. 4:28so much sauce if you submit yourself to
156. 4:30the study of history it will bestow at
157. 4:32least
158. 4:33two classical virtues upon you humility
159. 4:35and love and you're like what
160. 4:37how does studying history make me more
161. 4:39humble and loving well let me explain it
162. 4:41up real nice for
163. 4:42you first the study of history bestows
164. 4:43humility and it was that mountain of a
165. 4:45historian sam
166. 4:46weinberg who taught me this he says the
167. 4:48narcissist sees the world both the past
168. 4:50and the present in his own
169. 4:52image mature historical understanding
170. 4:54teaches us to do the opposite to go
171. 4:56beyond our own image to go beyond our
172. 4:58brief life
173. 4:59of the subjects in the secular
174. 5:01curriculum history is the best at
175. 5:02teaching those virtues once reserved for
176. 5:05theology humility in the face of our
177. 5:07limited ability to know
178. 5:09and awe in the face of the expanse of
179. 5:11history or to say it another way the
180. 5:13discipline of history teaches me that i
181. 5:15am not the biggest deal that there is
182. 5:17and that to put it more succinctly
183. 5:19is humility and if you give yourself to
184. 5:21this discipline you will necessarily
185. 5:23become
186. 5:24more humble like if you let it do its
187. 5:26work in you and as i said before we live
188. 5:27in a world filled with ugly and
189. 5:29misshapen pride and what we need
190. 5:31is more humility and by entering this
191. 5:33class you stand on the threshold of such
192. 5:35a virtue okay the second virtue the
193. 5:37study of history bestows
194. 5:38is love now all of us i'm assuming want
195. 5:40to love this world and the people who
196. 5:41belong to us better than we do but to
197. 5:44become one who loves well is no easy
198. 5:46thing but the study of history turns us
199. 5:48into those kinds of people let me
200. 5:50explain for this idea i'm indebted to
201. 5:51historian john fia who says people in
202. 5:54the past cannot defend themselves they
203. 5:56are at the mercy of the historian
204. 5:58this of course gives the practitioner of
205. 6:00history a great deal of power
206. 6:02but historians must relinquish power and
207. 6:04avoid the temptation to use the power
208. 6:06list to serve selfish ends such an
209. 6:08act of compassion and love for those in
210. 6:10the past requires imagination
211. 6:12and an openness to listen before judging
212. 6:16isn't that what we want for ourselves
213. 6:17like
214. 6:18don't we want others not to rush to
215. 6:19judgment about us but to love us enough
216. 6:21and hear us on our own terms and aren't
217. 6:23those the kinds of people that we want
218. 6:25to be to others as well like i've never
219. 6:26met a judgmental person who was like
220. 6:28really happy but i have met
221. 6:29plenty of people who have climbed into
222. 6:31the foothills of love and compassion for
223. 6:33their fellow human
224. 6:34beings and abound with joy and have
225. 6:35begun to understand what it means to
226. 6:37flourish as a human so the study of
227. 6:39history teaches us to love now
228. 6:41i know i've been soaring in the clouds
229. 6:42here but i've been trying to awaken your
230. 6:44imaginations and breathe
231. 6:46life back into the dry bones of the
232. 6:47study of history and when you step foot
233. 6:49in that classroom you're going to be
234. 6:50taking quizzes and tests and
235. 6:51interpreting documents and writing
236. 6:53essays and at every step you're going to
237. 6:55be tempted to believe that the tasks
238. 6:56you're completing have no larger
239. 6:58significance in your life but i will be
240. 7:00here constantly to remind
241. 7:02you of this the study of history matters
242. 7:04and the world needs those who have been
243. 7:06shaped by this discipline all right well
244. 7:07thanks for watching if you're about to
245. 7:09start ap world or apus or ap government
246. 7:11then baby you should probably subscribe
247. 7:12i got videos coming out multiple times a
248. 7:14week to help you get an a in your class
249. 7:16and a five on your exam in may links to
250. 7:17all the books that i mentioned are in
251. 7:19the description in case you're
252. 7:20interested
253. 7:20i'm out