[greyhavener]

Call me a romantic, but I think learning about the lives that inspire history, the deeply held convictions that moved those lives to action, and the art, literature, music, and invention that came as a response of those times breathes life into history. Look at ancient histories real and imagined. The Silmarillion is really about lives. The Old Testament is about lives. Homer wrote about lives. Events resulted from the character strengths and flaws of individuals.

History as currently taught is divided into periods to reflect philosophical and technological changes, then further split geographically. If you've ever seen the TV series or read the book "Connections" it's about how inventions changed and inspired humanities and lifestyles. I personally think history, literature, and science should somehow be dovetailed to give students an idea of the chain an idea takes that makes changes in society. Ideas inspire religion which inspires art and music which inspires literature which inspires higher education which inspires politics which inspires industry and science which inspires mass media, entertainment and education. Sometimes the order of the chain is different, but nothing happens in a vacuum. Events and ideas are interconnected and originate with individuals. Perhaps the trend toward eliminating personal responsibility and moral absolutes contributes to this lack of examination of individual lives.

Most history curriculums are designed to cover what's on the standardized test and not offend anyone. As there is more and more to cover, depth is eliminated for breadth. Individual lives are ignored in history books to make room for more information and more diversity. Textbook manufacturers and curriculum planners are charged with creating products designed to be politically correct and very generally cover everything everywhere.

Anyone who wants to develop a true sense of history is going to have to do some independent learning.

[ June 05, 2002: Message edited by: greyhavener ]