In elementary school, nearly every child will learn for the first time about World War II’s devastating impact. The Holocaust becomes a symbol of humanity’s darkest traits, exemplifying how issues such as nationalism and economic struggle build up to explosive conflict. These causal explorations become a staple in historical learning, but students’ capacity to apply understanding of cause-and-effect cycles on both a micro and macro scale rests on the quality of their education. The American population must seek to understand history deeply as an interconnected series of events rather than strictly separated and independent eras.
“Even when you’re doing that really narrow, granular approach, you’re still zooming in, and you’re still building systems, and really, just because you’re looking at a small piece of the world doesn’t mean that piece is any less complex. So, I think the value in looking at systems is that you’re acknowledging the complexity of them. What you’re doing is you’re acknowledging that the story of history isn’t always down to the actions of one brave individual. The story of history is very often lots of people choosing to do little things,” Advanced Placement (AP) Comparative Government teacher Carolyn Galloway said
In a regular person’s view of history, wars might float in and out of mind, and the rise and falls of various empires become staples of interest. After high school, those not inclined to study history begin to rely on the media for continued exposure. Whether casual exposure to history comes through movies, books or another niche, the creators rarely delve into the breadth and depth of the time period. While the media remains enjoyable, it does not always implore consumers to understand the sociopolitical state that surrounds it. As such, viewers understand the era in a fictionalized way rather than as a whole, which continues to impact the world. This reductionist tendency becomes prominent, for example, in Regency era romances such as “Bridgerton,” wherein producers use corsetry and historical social cues to suggest how far women’s rights have progressed. These symbols rely on false portrayals of historical culture and discount the continued persecution women fight across the world to this day. While the fictionalization of history remains a harmless staple in media, the only way to prevent misconceptions in reality rests upon regular people seeking an understanding of age-old problems, their continued impact on the modern world and the way those in power will manipulate narratives to misconstrue cycles of any part of life, from oppression and war to art styles.
As young people progress through the education system, they begin to explore topics with increased depth. What once manifested as a battle fought and won becomes a key turning point in a social uprising. Particularly through high-level classes such as AP World History, this understanding of the globe breeds informed voters in today’s democracy. These classes represent this continuity by showcasing how and why one aspect of life, such as the Enlightenment, paved the way for another, and how that new idea prompted a series of changes and resistances that continue to contribute to modern diplomacy. Ultimately, the purpose of historical education lies not in teaching students what to think, but how to think critically while exposing them to the way systems shape others’ experiences.
“I’m interested in history more than other subjects because it’s interesting to know how we got where we are, and why and what it took to get there. I feel like as people become more educated, it also leads them to become more democratic or more involved politically overall. When they’re less educated on history in general, they don’t care as much about politics because they don’t understand the effect that they actually have,” senior Arthur Silva said.
As people develop the pattern-recognition skills promised by these advanced classes, the skillset’s application to the world of politics grows inexorably. Voters watch as certain politicians harken back to times of economic strife, or they seek to learn how peaceful protest movements, such as the Civil Rights movement, succeeded. Perhaps the glaringest cycle in American history rests on racial oppression. Whether through slavery, Jim Crow or gerrymandering, Black and other minority Americans’ rights and opportunities consistently face scrutiny. In a nation where around 40% population by racial and ethnic minorities, this consistent oppression remains directly pertinent to millions. Regardless of the aspect of history that piques the learner’s interest, the stories it tells echo through the modern day. Whether trickle-down economic rhetoric calls back to Reagan-era dishonesty or calls for protests that urge leaders forward, this realization of cause-and-effect and the way one idea can play into another will allow a person to interact with the world with their best interests well-sought.
“I think when people understand not just where they are from, but where the world around them is from and how we have come to the place we are, it doesn’t necessarily always fill people with hope. But I do think it’s like you can see the matrix. It allows you to see systems for what they are and to be like, ‘Oh, that’s why [interstate] I-20 runs the way it does. It’s because it runs across land that used to be Black neighborhoods, and that was the land that was cheapest to buy up.’ When you understand systems of power and history, it makes the world more legible, and when the world is more legible, it is less frightening,” Galloway said.
Similarly to how reading places a bookworm in others’ shoes and fosters respect for diverse outlooks, a well-rounded understanding of history helps create empathy. Actively seeking to discover how the global past influences people in the modern day promises a deeper esteem for humanity across every strata of time and background. Practicing understanding historical figures’ contexts shapes a respect that informs contemporary regard of public figureheads and classmates alike. Acknowledging the world and the family that birthed Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, cultivates a deeper understanding of the impacts left by both the man and the circumstances that shaped him.
Historians, though they build their careers in studying these causes and effects that echo throughout modernity, will still warn casual history buffs of narrative fallacies. Propagandists and misguided hobbyists alike may search for meaning and connection in parts of history but fail to recognize the nuances present. As such, far-right conservatives can glamorize the past’s economic outlook without recognizing the oppression it rested on, and their far-left companions may champion the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ (USSR) efforts to decolonialize Africa without also understanding the political motivations behind the nation’s involvement. Searching for causality without recognizing the steps between events or the worldwide systems at play can, therefore, cause equal harm to disregarding these microcycles entirely. Still, historical influence lacks complete randomness, and acting with an understanding of academically accepted — or otherwise well-considered systems — of historical causality promises stronger political efficacy and deeper connection with friends, family, neighbors and strangers.
“One of the things that we talk about is the way information gets used. And in states that have used authoritarian political tactics, one of the ways that you control populations is that you control information and that you control the ‘us.’ Nationalism is a really powerful tool for generating legitimacy for a state, when people essentially consent to the use of power, And so one of the best ways to build nationalism is to create historical narratives that justify that. This is why history education is sometimes so very deeply controversial [on] what gets taught [and] what doesn’t get taught. History is really big and broad, and especially when we’re talking about, well, we have 18 weeks to teach the history of the entire world. Well, whose history gets taught and whose doesn’t get taught?” Galloway said.
