History is a very exciting subject for many people. Why? First of all, it’s nice to learn about famous and ordinary people, nations, events, organizations and cultures that existed years ago. However, even researching the story of your family sometimes can be extremely meaningful since you can learn valuable life lessons.
However, not all teenagers enjoy attending history classes. Often, they feel this discipline as an endless barrage of battles and wars, names and dates, figures and leaders that are hard to memorize.
What’s more, history professors typically give a lot of assignments that may be too difficult to complete. If it sounds discouraging for you, we’ve prepared inspirational essay examples about history and other topics that may help you with your academic hassles.
It’s true that doing papers may be boring and a bit daunting. But still it’s important to study history. Let’s find out why.
Table of Contents
Reasons to study history
To learn more about the importance of history in our lives, check the points listed below.
1. Understanding yourself better
We all have unique identities but not all of us can really understand ourselves on a deep level. Sometimes, we don’t really realize what type of personality we have and how to live our life. Luckily, history helps with that.
This science is not just a collection of famous names but a collection of stories about how those individuals shaped historical narrative.
You can discover a place of different people in molding the history that unfolds today, which may be quite helpful for your personal experience. This way you have a chance to understand where you fit into history and learn more about your own identity.
2. Developing critical thinking
History is based on the records from past decades and centuries, so studying this discipline requires analysis and interpretation. While reading historical documents and letters, you can analyze societies existing in the past and the time period that created them.
History gives you a chance to learn useful skills that you can carry over into every walk of life. For example, you can get better at comparing conflicting interpretations, identifying common biases, assessing evidence and determining its value. All those skills are very beneficial for anybody in the long run, no matter what you are going to do in life.
3. Understanding problems
Our life is full of economical, societal and other types of problems, which can be quite difficult to solve. To deal with them, you must first understand their roots. And this is what you can do with the help of history.
Obviously, we can’t confront crises without a deep understanding of how it arose and what forces shaped it. Any conflict or issue can’t be sorted out without comprehending the origin of a situation. History identifies the driving forces of society, government and individuals that leave some traces from the past till nowadays.
4. Recognizing change
Basically, history is the study of change, so it helps us see how impermanent everything is. The world around us undergoes constant alteration and understanding this process plays a vital role in being able to make right interpretations about life.
If you can understand why things used to be completely different and how they shaped one another, you can gain a lot of insights on the here and now.
Grasping the mechanisms that drive change, its significance and magnitudes also may be helpful for maintaining stability which is so desirable sometimes.
5. Building citizenship
Everyone has asked themselves a question like “How to become a good citizen?” One of the ways to do it is by understanding a past shared with other people and your communal identity. You should learn about how we came to be as a community in order to see ourselves as a group.
If we are aware of what defined us in the past, we can stay motivated to work towards building a better society today. Through knowing the history of your nation, its big winnings and losses, you may become a responsible citizen of your country.
How to pass a test in history?
As you see, history is a very important subject but it can be quite difficult too, especially if your college sets high standards. To pass an exam in your history course, you can get prepared using small flashcards of key terms, people and dates.
This is a great way to memorize information and impress your tutor with your knowledge. Besides, educators say that you can read textbook chapters out loud since it enhances information retention.
Before the test, make your own notes to better process the content you are reading. And don’t forget to highlight the concepts you are not strong at.
Some students like to use special mnemonic techniques to remember things. And no wonder why, this approach is extremely effective when it comes to studying history.
Another effective trick is to connect a map or timeline to find relations between facts. But most importantly, you must be familiar with the format of the examination before it starts, so you know how to prepare yourself.
Final thoughts
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of history in our lives. In short, we need to know history to better understand ourselves and problems existing in the world nowadays.
This branch of science also helps us develop critical thinking, recognize change and build citizenship. Hopefully, this article inspired you to devote more time to history lessons.
