Stephanie Meek is the 2025 Alaska James Madison Fellow
History has never not been important. Today is no exception. Students need history to understand the present as much as they need it to understand the past. The skills taught in history, specifically what we like to call “thinking like a historian,” teaches students to not just think critically, but it teaches them the purpose and importance of doing so. Learning history teaches students about contextualization, analyzing sources, continuity and change over time, cause/effect, how to make comparisons, and how to effectively develop an argument. All these skills transcend the discipline and are essential to all other areas of studies/subject matter. Today, students have more access to unverified resources than at any point in history and history classes provide students the skills needed to evaluate information (consider origin, purpose, content) and come to evidence-based conclusions. History reminds us that we are all connected and because of that fact, there is an intrinsic value in looking at multiple perspectives. All these components of learning history are why it is important for students to learn it. Continue reading ‘History Has Never Not Been Important’ by Stephanie Meek
