History and what it means to us.

Our History People live in the present. They plan for and worry about the future. History, however, is the study of the past. Given all the demands that press in from living in the present and anticipating what is yet to come, why bother with what has been? Given all the desirable and available branches of knowledge, why insist--as most American educational programs do--on a good bit of history? And why urge many students to …

…be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism. Some history--that confined to personal recollections about changes and continuities in the immediate environment--is essential to function beyond childhood. Some history depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge. Between the inescapable minimum and the pleasure of deep commitment comes the history that, through cumulative skill in interpreting the unfolding human record, provides a real grasp of how the world works