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 study even more history than they are required to?

... The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of

mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge

with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. The uses of history are varied. Studying history can help us

develop some literally "salable" skills, but its study must not 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.

By Peter N. Stearns