February 6, 2012: Why History?
1. Matthew Webb: Why History: the ten lessons we can extract from History courses which enrich our lives
Mr. Matthew Webb, Atascocita High School’s Social Studies Academic Team Leader, clarifies why the study of history is one of the most important disciplines in the core curriculum. He shares his list of top ten lessons we are to learn from the pages of History.
“One of the reasons we study history through the course of time is to grow up, and to grow in your world, to be able understand what happened before you, what is happening now, and what is likely to happen in the future.”
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2. John Gillespie: The Uses and Misuses of History
Mr. John Gillespie, AP World History and AP European History teacher, explains the reasons why history is constantly changing. He asserts that people’s bias and perspective is unique to their own life experiences, and shares the experiment he conducts with his students every year to show how history is biased and inconsistent.
“Let me suggest to you, that history, the events, the sayings, the wars, the treaties, the other deeds of the past, does not change. They happened after all; nobody can change that without a time machine, but the telling of history changes. The telling of history changes. Our perspective on history changes. How we see the past and interpret the past changes.”
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3. Mark Scalia: History in Perspective
Mr. Mark Scalia, AP US History teacher, discusses the internal dilemma teachers face is deciding how do teach the material required while doing their discipline justice. He then explains that he does not use a text book so that he can give his students different material so they can create their own opinions.
"Why is history the Battle ground now? Would it be perhaps because people think it matters what you learn? Or, does it matter what you don’t learn?”
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