Your thoughts on history class

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jkbarnes
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Your thoughts on history class

Post by jkbarnes »

Steve's questions about Egypt got me thinking about my own history class and others' experiences with history classes in school. Perhaps you'll indulge a few questions from me as I conduct my own casual research. This is purely to satisfy my own curiosity.

1. Did you like history classes when in school? Or maybe some but not others?

2. Whether yes or no, was it the subject (what subject?) or the teacher that captured, or lost, your interest?

3. If you liked history classes, what was it you liked?

4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?

5. Do you enjoy history as a subject now that you’re an adult?


I commented over on Steve's thread how I teach about Egypt but not as much as I'd like to. The more I thought about this, the more I realized that if i taught what I really wanted to, it would be history for the sake of history and probably not serve much of a purpose. The Egypt nerds in class would love it, of course, but the normal kids would probably be thinking, "Why on earth do I need to know any of this?! Who cares?" History is a tricky subject to teach, requiring a fine balance between content and relevance. The most challenging part is convincing a 14 year old that history is worth knowing.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by Martin »

History has become increasingly central to my reading and general interests. At school it was dry and decontextualised: it passed me by. As a teacher of English (eventually, after a few false starts) i became fascinated in the history of englishes and have read a range of books on some of the different aspects. 'Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts' is one such text and one I return to frequently. I have almost completely stopped reading fiction but I seek out some (near) definitive histories in eras and toplcs I find I want to understand better.
I hope this sort of answers your questions!
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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My recollection going back several decades , was it was all about the teacher and the presentation. If presented as actual events, done by actual people, with proper background leading up to the events, it can be very interesting even to a 14 year old. Compare that to being made to memorize a bunch of dates? I was lucky to have a very engaging instructor, that left a lasting impression.
I can sympathize with finding that balance between relevance, content, and keeping in line with a prescribed curriculum.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by Mikkei4 »

We had to choice between History or Geography from the second year of secondary school. As my class teacher taught History many of us were cajoled into choosing that.

1. No I didn't like History classes at school.
2. I suppose it came down to the teacher really.
3. Didn't like them.
4. Disliked the way it was date oriented, not made interesting or not shown to be relevant to our own times. It was taught in a manner purely to get us through the exams.
5. Love it. Got into it from 1990 when we bought a late Victorian built house that had legal paperwork with lots of history about the land ownership going back a couple of centuries. The house required lots of renovation but it had all it's original features so we researched extensively, learnt the local history then that spread to other areas with similar houses, then other eras, what happened politically and socially during each era etc etc.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

jkbarnes wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:39 pm
1. Did you like history classes when in school? Or maybe some but not others?
On the whole, no. It was very fragmented, snapshots in time, out of context and difficult to gain a sense of the sweep of history. The objective was to get a bunch of bright kids through a rather narrow exam with A-grades. In much the same way, our French and Spanish courses were very literary, fine for an academic linguist, but some of my friends just needed to learn how to order stuff and function socially on a basic level, and we didn’t get that.

2. Whether yes or no, was it the subject (what subject?) or the teacher that captured, or lost, your interest?
A bit of both. Our teacher was a good man, but so dull!

3. If you liked history classes, what was it you liked?
Anything that wasn’t to do with wars or politics, though there was precious little of that.

4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?
Endless lists of dates, mainly prime ministers, acts of Parliament and battles!

5. Do you enjoy history as a subject now that your an adult?
Love it! Reading about the Venetian Republic or the Reconquista is fascinating, especially now that I can explore the places for myself.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by jkbarnes »

Thanks for the responses so far. They all confirm what I expected. Context is everything with the teaching of history, and that's what has often been, and continues to be, sorely lacking.

I always tell my students there's no such thing as boring history, just boring teachers. History is a lot of sex, violence, and double crossing. What's boring about that?!
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by jkbarnes »

Martin wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:05 pm ...decontextualised
That's the word for it! Without context, facts have no relevance, no meaning. And without that, what's the point of even learning them?!

For a number of years I taught history as part of a humanities program where my class was closely integrated with the english class. That was probably some of the best teaching I ever did. The history informed the literature, and the literature gave life to the history. I wish I could be the teacher I am now in that situation from 20+ years ago. I'd do it for free!
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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Mikkei4 wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:25 pm 4. Disliked the way it was date oriented, not made interesting or not shown to be relevant to our own times. It was taught in a manner purely to get us through the exams.
When that's the case, it begs the question of what the point even is to teaching history!
Mikkei4 wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:25 pm 5. Love it. Got into it from 1990 when we bought a late Victorian built house that had legal paperwork with lots of history about the land ownership going back a couple of centuries. The house required lots of renovation but it had all it's original features so we researched extensively, learnt the local history then that spread to other areas with similar houses, then other eras, what happened politically and socially during each era etc etc.
That's fantastic!
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

jkbarnes wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:46 pm Context is everything with the teaching of history, and that's what has often been, and continues to be, sorely lacking.
I used to squeeze as much Roman history as I could (as well as linguistics) into Latin lessons. I used to do a lesson on food, and opened with: “Can you imagine a world with no chips, no chocolate and no pizza?” That got ‘em! :lol:
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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1. Did you like history classes when in school? Or maybe some but not others?
Yes I did, had to drop it as history clashed with a subject I wanted to take. Bit of a disappointment to both myself and the history teacher - the top 5 people in her class were taking other subjects.

2. Whether yes or no, was it the subject (what subject?) or the teacher that captured, or lost, your interest?
Bit of both, but I would have read the textbooks anyway being a keen reader.

3. If you liked history classes, what was it you liked?
Anything to do with British history, particularly the civil war. Also re-visited the subject as part of my business studies course. We did economic and social history. which was mostly about the industrial revolution. Being from Northern England, that was very relevant - a mill in my hometown was burned by the luddites. Hangings and transportation all round.

4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?
I did like history, but the whole Henry 8th and his wives left me a bit cold.

5. Do you enjoy history as a subject now that your an adult?
Oh yes. Particularly military history. Really regret not having got more information from my Grandad, a WW1 veteran. Same for many people I think. Some of the throwaway comments from my grandparents generation seem amazing now: seeing a Zeppelin on a bombing raid, laying out bodies after a pit disaster. I'm grateful my life is relatively dull.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

Post by jkbarnes »

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:59 pm
jkbarnes wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:39 pm
4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?
Endless lists of dates, mainly prime ministers, acts of Parliament and battles!

Why do I have this image in my head after your response and others' responses? :lol:

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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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jkbarnes wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:39 pm

1. Did you like history classes when in school? Or maybe some but not others?
Nope. Most of us endured our two years of compulsory classes then moved on

2. Whether yes or no, was it the subject (what subject?) or the teacher that captured, or lost, your interest?
Absolutely the teacher. This is high school. He used to stand at the front and dictate from a textbook, and we copied it. Then he would collect in our jotters and correct the spelling in green biro. That was it...

3. If you liked history classes, what was it you liked?
I loved dinosaurs and Egypt in primary school
4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?
See above. But also - I see little resonance or relevance with my life to learn about the ruling classes and how they lived. I prefer social history so we had a social education class that was more interesting to me.

5. Do you enjoy history as a subject now that your an adult?
I don’t have the concentration to read now but history clips on YouTube are often far far more interesting than school history was for me.


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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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I absolutely hated history in school and couldn’t wait to drop the subject. For two years all we seemed to learn about was Henry VIII and his wives and had to do a project on it at the end of the second year. The theme of the project was you had to put together a magazine with articles about Tudor life and news stories ‘of the day’. The group I was in chose a comic book theme and told Tudor related jokes and funny stories related to the time. When we handed it in we were pulled in front of the head of year to explain why we didn’t take our project seriously and given a severe dressing down. That only served to cement my loathing for the subject and the teacher who taught it.

In later life I have a general interest in history and do read up about subjects of interest. It I wouldn’t say I’m a devotee of the subject as a whole but certain topics do really interest me.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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1. Did you like history classes when in school? Or maybe some but not others?

Yes, it was my favourite subject, along with art.

2. Whether yes or no, was it the subject (what subject?) or the teacher that captured, or lost, your interest?

At primary school, it was both, the teacher I had for all but one of my primary years, was the teacher who most influenced and pushed me in the right way. I even produced a newspaper called the Viking Times, about the invasion of the UK, I did all the writing and illustrations. Can't remember much of the subject now! Thinking back, I think it was British hisory that fascinated me and really it's what we were taught, but that packed in a lot of the World's modern history.

I went from a small primary school to a huge comprehensive of 1800 boys with a shortage of teachers. It was easy to be anonymous. But my interest in History overcame the shortcomings of the comp. In contrast to what has been said elsewhere, my favourite history teacher was one Mr. Paine. An older gentleman, he was more a lecturer than a teacher, with very little engagement with the class. He would lean back, appear to half close his eyes and then speak. I could have listened to him forever. But I supppose if the subject wasn't for you, you could just switch off. I think he felt his best option was to do his best for those that were interested.

What frustrated me was the few hundred years of history that I missed, as when I got to my O Levels, the period of History covered was 1919 to basically the mid 50's, even the early 60's (in the 'rescue' question at the end of the exam, you know, choose 3 of the following to discuss, there was even a question about Dylan and Baez - that helped me :wink: !). But nevertheless, a lot of 'big' history and changes to the World order occurred in a very short period of time.

3. If you liked history classes, what was it you liked?

Everything really. Just learning about how the World evolved. For a long time I had a big interest in the great explorers. For some reason, possibly the name, Vasco Da Gama, was a favourite. When I visited Macau (a then Portuguese colony), from Hong Kong (a then British colony) in 1980, I visited the statue (bust really) of him that still stands today. It was of my reasons for visiting Macau.

4. If you didn't like history classes, what was it you disliked?

5. Do you enjoy history as a subject now that your an adult?

Yes. But generally to use as context for political / World events happening now. For example, Brexit, Nationalism, Russia, even JFK still. So delving into the history, and therefore helping to separate fact from fiction.
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Re: Your thoughts on history class

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1. I liked the more modern history I learnt - the more social history side not so much
2. Definitely the subject - had the same teacher at different stages
3. see 1. the subject
4. see 3 and therefore 1
5. again modern history yes, still not much time for social.
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