The Importance Of Humility In History

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“Of the subjects in the secular curriculum, it is the best at teaching those virtues once reserved for theology--humility in the face of our limited ability to know, and awe in the face of the expanse of human history”. This is another one of Wineburg’s thoughts in regards to history. In other words, history teaches us that we have to be humble and never take anything for granted. History shows what happens to those that just take advantage of everything, and that never ends positively. Humility is one of the most important ideas that we should be taught in life, but it does not always seem that people engage in behaviors that show humility. I know that my parents have always told me to be humble no matter what the situation. Whether…show more content…
We have kids who simply memorize facts just to get through a class rather than actually learn and conceptualize information. This leads to many problems down the road as students don’t obtain the skills that true history learning provides. In Wineburg’s essay****, he explains a novel approach to this problem in which students take a series of history classes that emphasize a deeper understanding. In fact, the first class introduced “students to the nature of historical evidence, the nature of reasoning from evidence, and problems of reconstruction from partial and mixed evidence” (41). Through this novel approach, students in these classes were shown to have a deeper and more profound understanding of history when compared to the control group of traditional history class students. One other interesting idea that Wineburg brings up in this essay is that, "history offers a storehouse of complex and rich problems, not unlike those that confront us daily in the real world. Examining these problems requires an interpretive acumen that extends beyond the 'locate information in the text' skills that dominate man school tasks" (51). In other words, if we can understand problems through history, then we can apply those skills to the real world. This goes above and beyond the busy work typically associated with school. The complex and rich problems are ones that are not basic and made up. They are events that have actually occurred and needed solutions, and as a result can provide more substance and application to the real world. When problems are made up, they are typically simplified and do not show the whole picture. The interpretive acumen is problem solving ability that comes from a deep understanding of history and Wineburg though it was important because it is a skill that can be applied into our everyday lives. Angelou’s autobiography definitely gave us some complex and

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