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why I didn't study history

Reader comment on item: Historians Run Amok

Submitted by rw (United States), Apr 4, 2017 at 21:26

When I had the choice of whether to study to history some 40 + years ago (school in Scotland means high school not university), I was presented with a list of reasons for studying history and asked to place them in order of importance. Now, I was very interested in history; although living in Scotland, I am English, and the history of England was something as a 15 year-old I knew a lot about; I was also studying Russian language, so anything to do with Russia was also of interest . . . and it was very obvious to me that the reason for studying the past was to make sense of the present, much as stated by the Prof. Collingwood quoted by Ferguson in your reference. \

My ordering of the list was therefore in line with that basic premise. The answer that the history teacher gave, his reasons for studying history, was almost the exact inverse of mine. Therefore I did not study history; instead I did Physics, which for me was pretty much a waste of time. (Eventually I did study some history because my degree is in English Language and Literature, study which at that time was historically based.) All very strange.

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Reader comments (12) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
momentous academic decline [17 words]darlene casellaApr 9, 2018 12:05242715
It's Not Only History [203 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
TomApr 9, 2017 18:24238361
Come to Murdoch Uni in Western Australia [50 words]Peter McMullanApr 6, 2017 06:31238225
1This Article Resonated [199 words]BruceApr 5, 2017 10:15238183
Popular Historians Still Can Be Great [162 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DaveApr 5, 2017 07:19238181
why I didn't study history [206 words]rwApr 4, 2017 21:26238166
It si worse than that [89 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
George ZilbergeldApr 4, 2017 21:01238165
Horrible History [22 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
ANN FARMERApr 4, 2017 17:08238157
Couldn't agree more [175 words]Ron ThompsonApr 4, 2017 16:52238155
Publish or perish may be behind the Microcosmographia [30 words]ETApr 4, 2017 14:49238154
Perhaps it has something to do with the younger generation trying to get faculty jobs [16 words]ETApr 4, 2017 14:43238153
1Qui Bono [375 words]Douglas Schulek-MillerApr 4, 2017 14:32238152

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