At the beginning of US history one, I believe that history is a study of the chronological account of events as they were occurring in the past. In this case, I was expecting to study how the different events were occurring from one event to another. Additionally, I knew I would learn the different cultures. This is where I thought I would get to know what the different cultures did in the past. Politically, as one of my interests, I wanted to know how the political events were occurring chronologically. However, after finishing the two US history classes my views about the definition and objectives of history have entirely changed.
As a definition of history, history is not a study of the chronological account of events. Instead, it is more to this than studying the chronological account of events. This is because history tends to study a selected past because of historians who affect it due to their nationality, religion, age and education. This means that history is more of why certain activities were happening than how they were happening. In this case, I have come to learn that certain activities in history were happening for a reason. It is not a path they were taking but cause they were trying to fulfill. An excellent example is how the Native American teens perceived suicide as a solution for loosing the work of life. This means that American teens were not just committing suicide. It is because loss of worth in life that led them to commit suicide. For this reason, I have realized that history is being affected by a factor, and it is not an occurrence.
On the other hand, before starting the class, I thought that the main objectives of history were to study the main incidence that was happening. After the studying these two classes, I have realized that the main objectives of studying history were to understand why certain activities were taking place. According to different historians, everything that was happening had its own purposes. For instance, people might ask why Chinese migrating to America were yet there were similar challenges in America in comparison to China.
Another main objective about history that I have learnt after completing these classes is that people must learn the past so that they can change the future. In this case, people must know the mistakes that were made in the past so that they can no repeat the mistakes. What I knew is that people were forecasting on making the future a better place. What I did not know is that the study of history was a critical factor in ensuring a better future. For instance, I have learnt that political leaders like President Obama are studying the history of other presidents to know where they made mistakes for purposes of making sure he will not repeat them in his leadership.
In conclusion, I have come to learn that history is not just any other course students take for the purposes of completing their studies. Additionally, I have come to learn that history is not just a study of past chronological account of events but also a study affected by different historian due to their religion, age and other factors. In this case, history main objectives are to make sure that people know why certain events were taking place. Second, helps in creating a better future. If a person does not learn from the past, he or she is likely to repeat history. For this reason, in order to move forward a person must learn about the past.
