The second reason why I taught for the past 4 years is because I want to extend upon students their abilities to change the world in which they live.
I try to start each year with the same explanation of why students should study history. Being that I thoroughly enjoyed all my years of history in high school and subsequent college courses, I want to extend the appreciation of the past by exposing students to three variables, namely that they should
- Honor the past. By doing everything that their parents or ancestors want them to do, they are honoring the memories of their historical past. I have had students create “personal history” projects in the past where they reflect upon their previous histories. This includes the embedment of a timeline of the important parts of their lives.
- Live in the present. Students should be aware of what is going on in the world they live. Thomas Jefferson believed that the goal of public education is to create an informed citizenry. Whereas we have so many individuals who don’t know their own Bill of Rights or content knowledge of what is going on in the world, we need to make sure we have an informed citizenry capable of making decisions in the future.
- Work for the future. I want to deeply give students the opportunity to create a better lives for themselves, their families, and their future. They should know education is a tool by which they can do that. Although everything ultimately comes down to getting a piece of paper (a degree), the system has forced education to be the greatest mobile tool that can be used for a better life.
In addition to creating a better life for themselves, I want students to come away with thinking of how to make the world a better place for everyone. What kind of decisions do we need to be making in the future to ensure a more harmonious living space and a better environment for all? With wars still raging all over the world, poverty still an issue, and environmental degradation being a thing of the norm, what is the solution to these problems? I hope by giving students critical thinking skills and the thinking processes necessary for solving historical problems in the past, that they can use those guidelines as a reference point for solving the next generation’s problems in the future.
