The Importance of History to the 21st Century Student

Appreciating history: a statue of Hastings Banda, the first president of Malawi, in Lilongwe

The twenty-first century is definetly a scientific and technological age replete with awesome scientific and technological milestones that our forefathers never dreamed about, let alone imagined. Our life has been made simple, thanks to the landmark scientific and technological innovations of our age. For instance,  today Malawians are able to purchase vehicles from Japan within minutes simply by punching a few buttons on their laptop and getting connected to the right websites. Infact, technology has been woven into our everyday life with the finest fabric so much so that we can't do without it. Little wonder, therefore, that almost all countries are trying to promote science in their schools for fear of being left behind in the breakneck race for technological development. But should art subjects like history be neglected because we are so much into technology? The sober answer to this question is a big no and this article strongly contends that  History and  other art subjects should not be left behind.

Every country needs to inculcate a spirit of scientific inquiry and innovation in its people, if it is going to make any headway in the twenty-first century. This fact can not be disputed. All developed countries of the world have made tremendous technological advancements to be where they are today. This explains why Europe parted ways with the rest of the continents in terms of development after going through the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century. Great nations are built by inventors and thinkers.

We have also seen how the wars of today have been fought and won with the aid of technology. In the wars of today, it is not the physical strength of the soldiers or their numerical advantage on the battlefield that counts, but rather the intellectual capacity of the millitary engineers in inventing hightech millitary devices. History will always remember how the world held its breath when the two atomic devices were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, to end the Second World War abruptly. Today the world is witnessing the use of drones with precision never imagined before in attacking targets deep behind enemy lines.

It is also true that the many problems that are confronting the human race today like strange diseases, extreme hunger, poverty, and terrorism, just to mention a few, need a lot of scientific and technological innovations to address them if humanity is to survive. Already we have seen how scientific research and innovations have made strides in combatting many of these challenges. Honestly speaking, the promotion of scientific and technological development is not an option for governments of today, it is the only way. It's either we adopt it or we are wiped out from the face of the earth.

But while the sciences are enjoying a conducive political environment in the world of today, other art subjects like History need not be forgotten. History, is one of few subjects that promotes morality and partriotism in students. Beyond that it has a lot to offer to students in particular and to humanity in general. Hence it is supposed to be a hub for any country's development strategy.

What good can a country get from its youth who have received the best training in science but are wanting in moral values? The answer is, very little, if it is not, nothing at all. Such people may have no respect to humanity. We may in the long run witness the negative use of technology whose sole result is destruction and doom for mankind. This even explains why there are calls from other corners of the world about country A or B not using technology responsibly. These are moral concerns. But if the people in the corridors of power of the countries in question did not have any moral education, how can they judge the morality of their usage of technology? It is extremely difficult. Hence students should also be encouraged to take art subjects seriously, if our development is going to be meaningful.

The rating of movies and establishment of censorship boards by governments of today is also a moral issue. In fact morality is on several occasions married with science and technology to produce something good for society. So as long as the issue of morality is still crucial in the twenty-first century, then governments should not ignore the arts for the sake of science. For it is the art subjects like History, which inculcates a sense of morality in our students. Honestly speaking, science without morality is at best counter-productive and at worst suicidal.

We can also take a scenario where students pursue the sciences without the spirit of partriotism as retrogressive and disastrous for any country. Partriotic citizens have a feeling that they owe their country something. They fill extremely satisfied whenever they have done something worthy a mention for their country. And these are the people who try to give their best to their countries with no regard to honour or monetary rewards. Hence countries with a lot of partriotic citizens have higher chances of developing than those with very few partriots. A closer look at countries like USA, Israel, China, Japan, India and Britain will justify the arguement that partriotism is a very goog ingredient in the recipe for development.

But which subjects promote partriotism in our students? There are many art subjects that does this and History is just one of them. Therefore, those countries which would like to use science and technology as their springboard to development should not forget to promote the teaching and learning of History and other art subjects in their school curriculum. Partriotism should be promoted first in our youth before we send them on various errands in our quest for development.

History also acts like a speedometer, informing us as to how fast we are cruising on the highway to development. Hence if we ignore it, we may think we are moving fast when in actual sence we are not moving at all. It also acts as a mirror that can help us to check if we are on the right lane or not. So all countries that would like to check their progress in terms of science and technology would seriously consider promoting the teaching and learning of History and other art subjects in their schools.

In a nutshell, it can be argued that the teaching and learning of art subjects like history is crucial and should be promoted in our schools just like we are doing the same to the sciences. History helps to instil moral values and a spirit of partriotism in people. It also helps us to gauge our rate and level of development over a specific period of time. It has been said many a time that a people without the knowledge of their past is like a tree without roots. Just imagine what would have happened to many of today's scientific and technological developments if history did not collect the works of Leonardo Da Vinci which have been used as the surgeon's tool by modern inventors? Some of these developments could not have been there for the works of the great man could have been lost for ever. And Da Vinci himself was a genius both in sciences and the arts.

NB: I was forced to write this article upon being told by a colleague that my services as a History teacher were no longer required in the twenty-first century global village as the subject appeares to have  .