Applied History by Jesusheyi

Applied History by Jesusheyi - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

The American education system is a bit skewed. Classes like Government and History are taught with certain outcome is mind, namely patriotism. The United States is always painted as the hero, while the rest of the world is either poor or sub-par when it comes to wealth and “freedom”. If I could add a subject to American high school curriculum, it would challenge these biases. It would be called Applied History.

Most people don’t understand how math really plays into real-world situations until they take Applied Mathematics. Then suddenly math is everywhere: in science, business, industry etc. We don’t realize it, but it’s the same with history. On the surface it has nothing to do with us. Things happened, wars were waged, people lived and people died and our ancestors were part of the former. But history is more than information, and in the flurry of memorizing people and battles and dates we often forget to ask why things happened and how wars were waged and who were the people that lived and died. That is where Applied History would fill in the gaps.

When teaching the history of the United States, there is an immense amount of information that is left out or glossed over: the enslavement of Native Americans, the help of the French in the American Revolution, America’s colonization of the Philippines, and the United States’ predatory relations with numerous South American countries. Applied History would cover topics like these, and use them to further understand how the United States gained so much power and wealth and why it foreign relations are the way they are.

It is admirable to avoid fostering shame in citizens when learning about their own history, but history isn’t a story. It is the past. It is the truth. Students would be more interested to learn the many facets of countries and conflicts, instead of the same tales and figures that don’t quite add up. Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Applied History would be the class that ends that cycle. It would not foster shame, but instead connect the dots that have always been avoided. History affects us every day, and it’s time we started recognizing it.