I put up this topic before my husband and my neighbors. It resulted into arguments which gave me some points to write on.
History is not made compulsory in schools today, but in my opinion, it is supposed to be done across all Arts students.
History is the only thing we have left in our memories that can take us back to our lineage. No one would say he or she doesn't have a hometown or family. I'm our respective hometown, we have history on how that town is being formed.
One thing I saw, so clearly that makes our history a better one is the aspect of the artifacts. The Benin empire is the greatest when it comes to crafts and artefacts. The only thing that brought a setback to that hope is the white men who came to colonize us. They came to make our homes theirs and to take the History of what we had built away. The fact remains that Nigerians are talented when it comes to the aspect of anything you can dream of.
The crafts and the artifacts were stolen to beautify their countries. That's part of history. They only came to Nigeria after seeing the great talented men in Nigeria forgetting the fact that we would be wise some days.
No place without a written note of history (showing how, where and why it was found). We came into this earth traced to just Adam and Eve, but then separated to build up our different homes. This is history.
“Do you know your identity?”
This is a question everyone can boldly answer. There is no one without identity except if you fall from heavens or were not given birth to be a woman.
This was part of the argument that history has somehow gone to extinction in secondary schools. They have placed it as an optional subject, which was supposed not to be. We were supposed to make it compulsory to our Arts students just for them to identify the value of their lands.
To keep one's integrity, history needs to be kept intact. It is only a bastard that would remember to say “I don't have home”, but every other human being born of a woman would trace their history back to their homelands. The argument busted when I brought up this topic. I was made to understand that even some parts of Ondo State were meant to be Edo State, but just because of some of our forefathers, that portions were claimed to be part of Ondo. That's history we all need to understand.
Our children were supposed to study history as subjects both in the primary and secondary levels just for them to be informed of the importance of history. The curriculum planners were not wise enough to have placed history as a minor in the secondary school. Maybe they forgot that we are here on earth just because of the historical value.
To proclaim your identity, you need to trace your lineage. Tracing your lineage would be tracing it back to history.
Even the government of today has lost track when it comes to history. There is a saying that “we have to lead by example”. This saying is not manifesting as the love of money has covered the mind of the present government making them focus on siphoning the national cake. A nation cannot stand without history. History can always take its way no matter the situation. We study history to know our values and maintain our cultures.
I would urge the educational curriculum planners to make history a priority as it deserves being given clear attention. We are alive, and I'm wherever we are today just because of history.
