Why Do We Have to Learn History?

In a recent post by William Chamberlain, he asked the question, "Why Do We Have to Learn History?" We all should want to learn History to get a better understanding of where we came from, how we evolved, and in hope to not repeat our past mistakes. So many interesting things have happened throughout History. I think if you start by telling the children something that happened in History that was interesting, maybe it will grab their attention enough to keep them interested in other historical events. Maybe a good start would be "The Diary of Anne Frank". This is a first hand experience from a child's perspective. What better way to capture the students' attention than to tell a story of a child around their ages. If we can relate to the subject it makes it seem more real. However, only reading about History only gives us a small piece to what the people of any given time have gone through. In order to understand our mistakes in the past, we must study the past. We have to learn how to not go down that path again. We need to ask ourselves, How did we get to a place in this world where the world is at war? This did not happen just once. How can we feel so little for other human beings, that we would keep them as slaves or put them to death in gas chambers? If you do not fix the problem, guess what? It can and most likely will happen again. Everyone should look around them and see their loved ones, would you want anyone of them to be treated like others in the past? No, so we all need to do what it takes to make sure that it does not happen again. In order to do that we must study History and learn from our mistakes.
Also, look around you. Look at how far we have come and all that we have. Take America for example, look how far we have come. A lot of hard work, sweat, and tears build this country to be what it is today. We should know how we came about and what we started with to see how much can be achieved if we all work together. William Chamberlain