“In many countries, history is not a subject that is taken seriously in the school curriculum..”
One of those countries that do not take history seriously is my country, Nigeria.
While I was in primary school, I was aware that history was a subject that was taught in secondary school and it was a mandatory subject too. I was elated by the knowledge that I would be learning about the culture and heritage of my dear country and getting more insight into how my country came to be.
It was to my dismay that I found out when I finally got to senior secondary school that the ministry of education had removed history from the subjects being taught in schools and it was replaced with something else that wasn't even related to the history of the nation.
I was really disappointed by that news but there was nothing I could do. The directive came from the government and all the schools in the nation had to abide by it. A lot of conspiracy theories began to fly about, some people claimed that the government had a lot of secrets which they did not want the younger generation to know about, especially secrets relating to the colonial era. Others believed that it was a ploy to make sure that the future leaders of tomorrow were ignorant of their roots and heritage.
There were really crazy rumors flying around.
But guess what? The country moved on.
Personally, I still feel deprived because I feel that there is a lot of things that I could have learned from that subject because now that I offer a course in history in the university, all we get about Nigerian history these days are mostly political and it's boring already.
It's always about the coups that occurred, the various constitutions we have had since the colonial masters lived amongst us and every other thing political. These are topics that I learned about in secondary school only to meet them again in future and still meet basically the same thing.
There's barely any talk about our intricate cultures that exist as one nation and the younger generation are losing touch of what their culture signifies, me included. I don't know a lot when it comes to my culture, what I know is just the basics.
There is a popular philosophical saying that goes thus:
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,"
This quote is so powerful because it essentially points out the danger of losing touch with one's history. The importance of history in our lives is not emphasized enough because many think it is a boring concept and that the past should be left in the past which is not a very wise idea. There would be no future without the past and learning about our history gives us a strong sense of identity. We can identify with our various tribes now because we were made aware of our heritage and it helped us come to terms with the fact that we belong to a particular group of people.
If we don't know our history, we lose most of our grip on our reality and we become susceptible to whatever information people choose to feed us concerning our heritage.
History serves as a guide for the future which is what makes it so essential in our lives. Through history we are able to learn from past failures, mistakes and successes in order to make wise decisions in future so as to prevent repetition of what was done in the past that didn't go well and would definitely not go well in the future.
There's someone out there wondering how he or she came to be and the only avenue that can provide the answers that person seeks is if the person is able to get familiar with his or her heritage, learn their history in order to fully understand why things are the way they are and how things are going to be.
History is literally a map for the future and I can go on and on talking about how utterly important it is for everyone to know their history. It is not a subject that can be swept under the rug without having its dire consequences on the entire populace.
I don't know if history is being taught once more in secondary schools now and if that is not the case, then I suggest that it would be best if it was returned to the curriculum as a subject once more so students that get an early foundation to understanding who they are and where they come from.
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