history as a boring subject?

Some people in Hong kong think that history is a boring subject, indeed it is, you need to memorize  alot to attend exam, the reason, the course and the result of those historical events, for example,it may ask you the reasons why Qin united China, is it a good way top learn histoory, or a way to kill history?

Some model answer books have done the analyse for students, teachers just need to photocopy the books and the students just need to memorize the content, this is the way how H.k schools teach history.

Only one problem with your post hugoestr is that the American Civil War (a name I don't like, it's more of a second Revolution than a Civil War) officially ended with the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. I agree that dates are important as they do indeed give incite into greater themes and often help with analysis. History with out names and dates is like good food with out a good beverage (beer, wine, soda, whatever) just not worth it. Much like a life with out chocolate is no life worth living.

I don't think dates are that important at all. Throughout my study, there is only a few I ever remembered (800 Charlemagne crowned, 1066 England invaded, 1592 Columbus accidentally hits a continent etc.) All dates I would have in my head as long as the course took, and forget again.

I enjoy history because I like to compare my family origin with other cultures and see what I can learn from them. Also, I look at the events of history as a good story.

1592 Columbus accidentally hits a continent etc it was 1492,surely you do not think that date is very important

Originally posted by tommy Some people in Hong kong think that history is a boring subject, indeed it is, you need to memorize� alot to attend exam, the reason, the course and the result of those historical events, for example,it may ask you the reasons why Qin united China, is it a good way top learn histoory, or a way to kill history?

How else are you supposed to study history? If you're studying Chinese history you should easily be able to talk about some of the features of the Qin unification. Maybe they have presented it in a boring manner, maybe they are trying too hard to make it into some sort of patriotic tool, there are alot of ways to kill history.

Originally posted by Aelfgifu I don't think dates are that important at all. Throughout my study, there is only a few I ever remembered (800 Charlemagne crowned, 1066 England invaded, 1592 Columbus accidentally hits a continent etc.) All dates I would have in my head as long as the course took, and forget again. � Dates have almost nothing to do with�the learning of history. They provide a point of refence, no more. The imporant things are causes and consequenses, continuity and discontinuity, political changes, innovations. The understanding of processes is much more important than just learning facts by heart.

Dates are somewhat important. Some people nowadays commit all kinds of terrible anachronisms, having the wrong kind of technology and architecture in the wrong periods, getting events out of chronological order, etc. It's ok for a basic study that's pre-digested for the reader out of textbook, where one doesn't have to come to one's own conclusions, but dates are really important in understanding history. If you don't know at least approximate dates you're going to miss connections between events when the relationship isn't spelled out for you, whole lines of inquiry will just be lost. Eg, you're an entire century off for Columbus, and that will miss you the fact that the Spanish discoveries and conquest in Mexico and the Carribean followed very close on the heels of the Reconquista, which is important in understanding the mindset and motivations of the explorers and conquistadors and missionaries.

Basically without dates you can only absorb what others have understood for you, and then you're stuck with their mistakes, their particular focus and interpretation.

Edited by edgewaters - 25-Jun-2007 at 11:46

I agree with Aelfgifu- remembering key dates is important, but not central to the discipline - remembering reams of dates will not help anyone become a good historian unless they have what I call a "feel" for the period in which they are studying. If you've got the method and the context, then the dates can follow from there. For example, when I read Caroline Finkel's Osman's dream (a history of the Ottoman empire - great book!), I didn't remember many of the dates - I got a general "feel" for the Ottoman empire and it's society. It's more important to remember structures within the states that you are studying, abstract theories behind the civs that carry the most weight. When most people mention dates, they mean a basic understanding of the dates of the world (which centuries fit which era, etc.), which most people gain by at most age 11.