Paper

[Varia]

I wrote this for history. I thought some of you might like to read it. Feel free to express your love or hate for it.

Today in my history class, I was told to write a paper and was presented with the topic “discuss and explain why humans have the need, the obligation, to record and teach their history”. Seeing as this was most of the day’s focus of discussion, I am assuming that I should be participating in this particular topic during my normal life. However, I do not most of the time. In my own opinions, I believe I can safely say that I really do not know why humans feel the need to do such things.

I go to school, I pay attention in all my classes, I talk to my friends, I go home, I go out. I do things. I do not, however, enjoy things that most other kids my age enjoy, such as going out to parties, the occasional use of illegal substances, or going out to the mall, just to name a couple. Throughout the duration of the class, the teacher kept referring to teenagers today, and I assuming that he meant those kinds of kids. Average. From what I have seen, heard, and experienced, kids like these need to keep a high level of social activeness, or else they begin to feel “uncool” or “unpopular”. Also, it seems that they like to get to the top of the social ladder while pushing others down to get there. If you say the wrong thing to someone, they will tell all their friends and their neighbors and their pets until everybody and their grandma knows. Effectively, this will make one person go up some on the ladder, and the other fall some. This is what I see in the general populace of students everyday. They write about these things in journals, they talk to their friends about it for hours on end. This is just a small portion of humans that I have just focused on, but it applies universally throughout the course of history, except on lesser scales. Gossip in addition to the potential raise in social status is what many people are concerned with. Don’t get me wrong, they still take part in their job, their family etc. but in their time out of those things, the “interesting” part of their life, that is what they do.

I have no idea why people like to participate in these kinds of things. I think it makes me stupider each time I think about it, because there is no point. Yes, there are important events in history, which should be remembered, explained, studied and accounted for. With knowledge about the past, we can prevent mistakes in the future. If nobody had ever documented the effects of the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, nobody would know what would happen if they just loaded a squadron of bombers with atom bombs instead of some bunker busters. Ok, that wasn’t a great example, but it gets my point across. But along with these memorable events are the things that cause them. That brings me back to my ideas of people and their social status. This guy didn’t like this guy and then some miscommunication happened and now all of the sudden there’s a war. No person is better than any other person. The sooner people realize this, the sooner the world will become a better place.

Now that I have written this, and read it over, I understand my thoughts a lot better. I can now answer the original question. Humans feel the need to record and teach their history because they are insecure about themselves and their position in life. They keep it to show newer generations, which they can teach to have the same ideals and standards as themselves, thus continuing the cycle of a meaningless, spiteful existence. I have done a lot of generalizing, but believe that in a general population, this is fairly accurate.

[Brainmaster07]

Yes! Bashing on history! I love it.

Seriously, there's no freaking point. Ok, we need a basic knowledge so we can learn some basic cause/reaction situations. Tyranny = revolution, un-fair treatment = retaliation, etc. So... I can understand a year or two of it, but seriously, 12 years, of something I could learn in less then 1 year, couldn't care less about, and hardly matters? give me a break.

Even in the 'real world' after school, history really isn't an important factor. Maybe if you're a governor it's pretty obvious you should know how it was ruled in the past to see what you should do, but like, computer science, engineering, even freaking fast food, WHY!


EDIT: Speaking of history, I have a history final tomorrow... damnit. Not like it will drop me below an A, but the fact that I might actually have to study... :(. This is litterally the first time I've studied for a test, ever, and I don't even care about the subject.

[makaveli121212]

its obvious that we teach hostory so we can learn from our mistakes...becasue after all history does repeat itself

[Dark_Mind]

I agree, learning all that history is pointless. We learn history to not reppeat mistakes, but history just repeats its self.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

i may not like history, but i feel it is most important to our everyday life. Which class could prepare you more for your futurewhen you leave highschool, or even college...

How does math beyond basic algebra help besides getting us into better colleges and jobs?

How can taking beyond basic English help besides making your vocab more advance and making you appear smarter and superior to others?

Learning a foreign language merely helps to overcome an obstacle when talking to people. Languages should be cultural, but a common language would be appreciated

Science: only other class i feel is important for actual life


therefore i think school in and of itself is a faulty system in which its only goal is to prepare you to get into college and a job, whereas important life values are not taught whatsoever. If social studies was not taught, what basis of education would future rulers have built up upon?

[VxDx]

You learn history to have a better grasp of how humanity acts. It's possibly the most important class you take.

[makaveli121212]

math helps by teaching us how to problem solve...i was talking with vxd today...and we figured math has very practical uses...we learn all these different tools in math, for algebra to calc...the thing we learn is to use the all the tools togetther to solve problems...learning english helps you not look like an idiot

[Dark_Mind]

I guess that means you didn't learn english. (a joke on your avatar) lol

[makaveli121212]

well played...nice sig btw, where did you hear that

[Lupin_the_3rd]

math is not important past algebra II i said...how many times will you wonder what the cosine is of a ferris wheel 2 feet off the ground

[Dark_Mind]

It is a quote from the game 'Dark Reign' there are 6 in the handbook. I am unshure as to weather or not the game has coppied them from somewhe else. I changed the quote slightly for my sig.

Here are the quotes:


"A man with only the humblest of means will cling to life like a leech on a pig's ass. But a man with nothing cannot know fear."
- Uknown Freedom Guard Soldier


"Only through absolute uniformity of purpose can victory be achieved. Heroism in the battlefield is as dangerous as cowardice"
- Imperium General Gregor Trilkin


"All emperors fall. You just have to know where to push."
- Freedom Guard Commander Jeb Radec


"The hand of man can hold the universe in its palm, if only it can learn to unclench its fist."
- Alpheus Togra


"Even the lowliest of biengs knows order. Order is the purpose of intellect."
- Imperium Ruling Director Grote Reber


"It is better that all should die than one should live in slavery.
- Perigil Ilacas at his execution


I have coppied these from the book as is.

[jewpinthethird]

More Fun Quotes involving History:

"Conventional Wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightest of empires...but what history really shows that today's empire is nothing more that tomorrow's ashes, That nothing lasts forever, and that to not resist is to acquiesce in yout own oppression. the greatest from of sanity that anyone can excercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit."
-Mumia Abu-Jamal

"I believe there is still something inherent in the Fibre of America worth saving, and that the fortunes of the entire world may well ride on the ability of the young to face the responsiblities of an old America gone mad"
-Phil Ochs

And most importantly why History is important:

"Knowledge is Power, Arm yourself"
-No idea, but it is a fairly popular quote

With the knowledge of the past, we can better our future. Unfortunately, we have a Presidental Administration who choses to ignore the past and further hurt the Nation.

Dont believe me? Look up:
The Spanish-American War (more importantly, the events that happened after the War)
The Depression (The "Trikle Down" Theory which Bush is using today, which failed in the 1930's under Hoover's Administration)

[Jello]

stupider is not a word.

[Brainmaster07]

math is not important past algebra II i said...how many times will you wonder what the cosine is of a ferris wheel 2 feet off the ground

If your a designer or an architect... all math is important in just about every job. I dare you to find one job that doesn't involve math. A lot only go up to the algebra 1 or 2 level, but quite a few still do go past, to calc and such.

[Dark_Mind]

How bout the job of bieng insane?

[Lupin_the_3rd]

math is not important past algebra II i said...how many times will you wonder what the cosine is of a ferris wheel 2 feet off the ground

If your a designer or an architect... all math is important in just about every job. I dare you to find one job that doesn't involve math. A lot only go up to the algebra 1 or 2 level, but quite a few still do go past, to calc and such.

sorry brain, i meant to specify as helpful towards actual life...

there are far more important things than knowing how to build a roof

[Dark_Mind]

And where woud we be without roofs? *cough*DUMBASS*cough*

[Brainmaster07]

:P

But why are we talking about math? Were supposed to be bashing history.

[makaveli121212]

well lupin if you read my previous post you would see that i said that math helps us learn to apply different things we have learned to solve a problem...in many cases in math problems you have to search back to things previously learned to solve them...thats what it teaches you...in everyday life you have problems, the way to solve these problems is to gather the tools you have learned throughout life and apply them to solve the problem

[Lupin_the_3rd]

And where woud we be without roofs? *cough*DUMBASS*cough*

durrrr we didn't have roofs for thousands of years and i'm PRETTY sure we haven't died out yet....shelter is a recent commodity which promotes warmth. Because of our being spoiled with warmth, we have become dependant and now have like zero fortitude. Roofs were just as bad as they were good to our race.

and makaveli, i know where you are coming from, but the actual application of the math problems past alg. II would be quite useless for real life(and not being a carpenter, you idiots). Knowing trigonometry and calculus doesn't make you a better person, nor does promote common sense.....a small amount of logic is all that you would gain from Trig and calc, which is why math past algebra II does not provide THAT much more knowledge

[Omeganitros]

School may or may not be flawed. What find lacking in it is the teaching of wisdom. They could study deeper into philosphers or something. However, teaching wisdom may or may not be like teaching moral values, which schools are not exactly entitled to do.

[makaveli121212]

calc is used all the time in the stock market to show the rate of change of a companies stock or the rate of change of the rate of change of the companies stock

[Lupin_the_3rd]

stock market=life value? no
i should have been more specific- i mean like....character building and useful skills needed for life

oh, and like it or not, school is most definitely flawed....it's like one of the more atrocious things we have created--free thought and individualism is "encouraged" by schools, while ironically it is surpressed(usg?)

school should be taught so that we gain stuff we need for our life, not just jobs...

its been said, "all i ever needed to learn, i learned in kindergarten"
share, say sorry when you hurt somebody, and play nice together.

think about what our world would be like world rulers abided by these rules

[Brainmaster07]

You can't live with lifeskills alone and you can't live with education alone. Math is required to get through the day, as is common sense.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

You can't live with lifeskills alone and you can't live with education alone. Math is required to get through the day, as is common sense.

how many times do you calculate the cosine of the door stopper? or maybe the corner of your house?

this is why i said math up to alg II

[Brainmaster07]

If you can't pay your tax's or manage your income you'll be in a helluva trouble :P. Not to mention keeping your job, or getting a new one, good luck getting anything above minimum wage with an alg 2 education.

Of course alg 2 is fine for now, but it won't later.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

dude i am NOT. I repeat, i am NOT, as in I AM NOT, stating for life what you're thinking of. Perhaps you haven't matured enough to the point where life of which you speak of doesn't mean shit. You will only be here another 70 years, big deal. I'm talking about education to be received by future dwellers of earth. We need a school that teaches people to worry about current events and individualism. We need schools to promote how to act (no i dont mean manners) in the face of certain difficulties in the future. We need schools that would help promote things more important in life like keeping in peace with yourself, neighbours, and strangers...i'm doing a horrible job of explaining this, as i can't think of specific examples, but schools in the far east are doing what i suggested as we speak. I guess taxes are more important than enjoying life though.

and when you say alg II is fine for now, what do you mean by that? maybe in your future you will need skills to create an automobile to pollute the planet, or make a weapon of destruction to kill inhabitants of countries you don't like....

[Brainmaster07]

and when you say alg II is fine for now, what do you mean by that? maybe in your future you will need skills to create an automobile to pollute the planet, or make a weapon of destruction to kill inhabitants of countries you don't like....

As I said, right now, today, you can get through life with alg 2, but later, you will need a greater education to get through life. And is it just me, or did you just contridict yourself?:

math is not important past algebra II i said...how many times will you wonder what the cosine is of a ferris wheel 2 feet off the ground

And for the rest of your point, I never said life skills weren't important, in fact, look at my last post, I just said they were necessary to get through life. I'm not argueing with that, just that you need high math skills to get through life.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

we're each thinking a way of life is better, and i respect your opinion.

I think it is more important to live your life to the fullest, while disregarding an importance of wealth. make peace with all human beings though they may not be peaceful with you. attempt to achieve happiness through giving and love. have your progeny to live in a better world.

my interpretation of what you think is important:
get smart, get rich, get fancy cars and dress well. Get a wife and treat her well. You have a nice job and everybody thinks you're all that.

[Brainmaster07]

Sounds good :wink:.

[makaveli121212]

stock market=life value? no


well i guess money doesnt have any value...you see the trends you invest you make money...you invest blindly you dont make money...you can work all you want makin $50 an hour but i can work at McDonalds and earn more than you with my stock market skills...it is definately a life value...those who play it right are very smart people

[Lupin_the_3rd]

read two posts up to see what my life values are, affluence is not one of them