Why is history useful

History helps us become better voters and more effective members of any type of society. It helps put us in a position to better inform others as well. History gives us the opportunity to learn from past mistakes.

It helps us understand the many reasons why people may behave the way they do. As a result, it helps us become more compassionate as people and more impartial as decision makers. Our judicial system is a perfect example of this concept at work. History is more than just the living record of nations, leaders, and wars. Plus, history is just plain interesting. Everything you like about your favorite movies, television shows, and fiction novels is yours to experience right here in reality when you study history.

But audiences less spontaneously drawn to the subject and more doubtful about why to bother need to know what the purpose is. Historians do not perform heart transplants, improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a society that quite correctly expects education to serve useful purposes, the functions of history can seem more difficult to define than those of engineering or medicine.

History is in fact very useful, actually indispensable, but the products of historical study are less tangible, sometimes less immediate, than those that stem from some other disciplines. In the past history has been justified for reasons we would no longer accept. For instance, one of the reasons history holds its place in current education is because earlier leaders believed that a knowledge of certain historical facts helped distinguish the educated from the uneducated; the person who could reel off the date of the Norman conquest of England or the name of the person who came up with the theory of evolution at about the same time that Darwin did Wallace was deemed superior—a better candidate for law school or even a business promotion.

Knowledge of historical facts has been used as a screening device in many societies, from China to the United States, and the habit is still with us to some extent. Unfortunately, this use can encourage mindless memorization—a real but not very appealing aspect of the discipline. History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society, and because it harbors beauty.

There are many ways to discuss the real functions of the subject—as there are many different historical talents and many different paths to historical meaning. All definitions of history's utility, however, rely on two fundamental facts. In the first place, history offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave. Understanding the operations of people and societies is difficult, though a number of disciplines make the attempt.

An exclusive reliance on current data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace—unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we don't use what we know about experiences in the past? Some social scientists attempt to formulate laws or theories about human behavior.

But even these recourses depend on historical information, except for in limited, often artificial cases in which experiments can be devised to determine how people act. Major aspects of a society's operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments.

Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives.

The second reason history is inescapable as a subject of serious study follows closely on the first. The past causes the present, and so the future.

Any time we try to know why something happened—whether a shift in political party dominance in the American Congress, a major change in the teenage suicide rate, or a war in the Balkans or the Middle East—we have to look for factors that took shape earlier. Sometimes fairly recent history will suffice to explain a major development, but often we need to look further back to identify the causes of change.

Only through studying history can we grasp how things change; only through history can we begin to comprehend the factors that cause change; and only through history can we understand what elements of an institution or a society persist despite change. These two fundamental reasons for studying history underlie more specific and quite diverse uses of history in our own lives. History well told is beautiful. Many of the historians who most appeal to the general reading public know the importance of dramatic and skillful writing—as well as of accuracy.

Biography and military history appeal in part because of the tales they contain. History as art and entertainment serves a real purpose, on aesthetic grounds but also on the level of human understanding. Stories well done are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places.

The same aesthetic and humanistic goals inspire people to immerse themselves in efforts to reconstruct quite remote pasts, far removed from immediate, present-day utility. Exploring what historians sometimes call the "pastness of the past"—the ways people in distant ages constructed their lives—involves a sense of beauty and excitement, and ultimately another perspective on human life and society. Here, we outline the importance of learning history and reveal study tips for pupils.

For that you need an appreciation of history. History is one of the most respected and most valuable academic subjects your child will learn. This guide takes a deep dive into the importance of learning history at school, plus a few tips for studying it effectively. Entire societies, and the individuals within them, benefit from gaining a deeper understanding of history.

Here are six benefits your child will enjoy if they study history in school. Through history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed.

The rich history of the world helps us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today. Developing your knowledge of history means developing your knowledge of all these different aspects of life. Children can learn about the pillars upon which different civilizations were built, including cultures and people different from their own. All this knowledge makes them more rounded people who are better prepared to learn in all their academic subjects. History is full of stories.

Some are inspiring and uplifting; others are chaotic and immoral. Tap into the vivid realm of history, and there are many vital lessons your child needs to learn. They will study times of suffering and times of joy, and the lessons they learn here can then be applied to their own life experience. History also encourages a deeper understanding of difference. There are lessons, both good and bad, to be learned from the way our ancestors have interacted with other people who have different ways of living.

In a modern world where inclusivity is embraced no matter your background, an understanding of how past societies have integrated is key to humanity improving in the future. Nations are made up of a collection of stories and legends. These stories shape the way we think about our country and our standing within it.

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Corporate Partners. Foundation Partners. Worldwide Recognition. UoPeople in the Media. Contact Us. Why Study History: The Importance History is important to study because it is essential for all of us in understanding ourselves and the world around us.