Comments on: High school history http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/ Temporarily Torontonian Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:08:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Anon @ Wadh http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16913 Anon @ Wadh Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:40:41 +0000 http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16913 I shudder at the thought of what I wrote/believed at that stage in my life. I shudder at the thought of what I wrote/believed at that stage in my life.

]]> By: Seth http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16897 Seth Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:24:47 +0000 http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16897 I know exactly what you mean. I feel like sometimes at the higher levels we can't see the trees for the forest, to invert the idiom. We get hung up on trends, the development ideas, or what the Annales school of historians would call the "structures" of history. This is all well and good, but it's also important that individual events and personalities both comprise and reflect all these higher-level themes. When I tell people that I study history, especially Americans, the response is usually something like "Oh I couldn't stand history, all those names and dates." On the one hand, I feel like this is a gross misconception of what history is, or should be. But on the other hand, those names, dates, and events provide the foundation and framework on which we build the lofty towers of theory and analysis. I wish I had more of my high school and college notes. I imagine they'd be similarly useful. I know exactly what you mean. I feel like sometimes at the higher levels we can’t see the trees for the forest, to invert the idiom. We get hung up on trends, the development ideas, or what the Annales school of historians would call the “structures” of history. This is all well and good, but it’s also important that individual events and personalities both comprise and reflect all these higher-level themes.

When I tell people that I study history, especially Americans, the response is usually something like “Oh I couldn’t stand history, all those names and dates.” On the one hand, I feel like this is a gross misconception of what history is, or should be. But on the other hand, those names, dates, and events provide the foundation and framework on which we build the lofty towers of theory and analysis.

I wish I had more of my high school and college notes. I imagine they’d be similarly useful.

]]> By: Milan http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16896 Milan Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:04:46 +0000 http://www.sindark.com/2007/06/07/high-school-history/#comment-16896 Some interesting Wikipedia articles, relevant to my exam: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid" rel="nofollow">Doolittle Raid</a> (1942) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway" rel="nofollow">The Battle of Midway</a> (1942) Some interesting Wikipedia articles, relevant to my exam:

Doolittle Raid (1942)
The Battle of Midway (1942)

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