This is one of two prompts that an reach up to 32,000 characters. No. Don't worry. I did not write anywhere near that much, but it is a little longer. I feel like it is needed to hit my points, but let me know, along with what should be edited or revised, if it should be shortened.
Program Choice: Please provide an essay that explains why you chose your intended program of study. What interests you the most about this major? To which careers or job opportunities do you think acceptance into this program would lead? Thanks!
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Ms Williams. Afternoon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. History of Western Civilization from 1500.
This is the class that led me to spend my life pursuing history. It was my first college class that covered the subject and I took it for just for the love of it. It was also my first history class that did not cover facts exclusively or did it teach out of the textbook. Instead, it promoted the discussion of events, interpretation of materials and primary sources, and encouraged critical thinking. This is a big reason why this class was important to my future academia and even life outside of school. It pushed me to question what is in front of me and think through the facts to find a solution.
Questioning the world and interpreting what I find has made me more self aware. I love that I was able to learn about the Protestant Reformation. This knowledge made me question my faith in the best way, by reaffirming it. After studying the Human Zoos of the 19th and 20th century, it has inspired me to look deeper when accepting explanations about other culture's supposed inferiority. Cultural differences during the Age of Imperialism and now in the modern day do not make a person less intelligent or worthy a person. In short, I see the usefulness in history and have used it actively, but I know that most people don't.
It is not hard to pin down the reason why history does not come across as useful. For instance, although I have always loved history, I used to see the study of it like anyone who has taken a high school history class. No wonder, It is taught as unchangeable facts that are told to students instead of discussed with them. Everything that needs to be known is in the textbook or an educational video. The last step is to take a test with memorized dates and little context that is easily forgotten. There is no emphasis on using this knowledge to interpret the world, adding context to other areas of study, or becoming an aware and informed adult through the foundation of historical education. Until taking Western Civilization showed me how I could be a well-rounded student and individual, I had little ability to take what I learned and apply it to my world.
I am not special by being the only person who understands the purpose of history and how to apply it to life, but I am one of too few. I want to change the requisite grimace that appears when a history class is mentioned. By experience, I know that when I talk to a friend or coworker about what history should be their eyes light up and I can see excitement on their faces. From what I have come across, people want to be interested in historical study, but have a tough time when it is interpreted as memorization of what they see as unrelatable data. Call me a romantic, but everyone who sets foot in a history class should have a real chance to find it exciting. Every student should know that they have the opportunity to use history for a foundation to experience life through the same skills that are used to analyze the past.
It is a tall order to change the way history is taught in secondary school and make it attractive to students. With my critical thinking know-how, I have made a path for myself. After my undergraduate study, I intend to take my Bachelor of Arts in History and earn a Master's in Public History. I truly believe that this will give me a foundation to help me start bringing about education reform for high school students in social studies classes. I recognize that even after obtaining my graduate degree there will be a lot to learn. This includes the discipline of history and education, as well as, navigating public policy that dictates how students are taught and the political arena that dictates it. However, as a foundation for my goals, Public History will teach the basics in how to make history more accessible.
Public History is hard to define, but it is a field in which professionals strive to make past events useful and important to individuals. History is made to be interactive and relatable for those attending museums or touring national parks. Archives are digitized so the average person has the amazing opportunity to experience primary source material firsthand, instead of just reading about them second hand in a textbook. A secondary source that can be bias, if not outright wrong. Public Historians welcome debate and discussion, they strive to cultivate it. In doing so history becomes exciting, three-dimensional and relevant.
I believe these principals can play a part in helping student's receptiveness to history before they become apathetic. Public History's ability to cultivate open discussion and historical interests are skills that can be brought into a classroom. Great instructors will have more tools to use and poor instruction will be left behind. Hopefully, a new emphasis can be put on teaching students to interpret source material and draw from it motivations, cause and effect, and knowledge of what went right and what went wrong. This foundation will lead to skills such as strengthening of critical thinking; the ability to be informed about the world and to interpret it will be invaluable.
These skills reveal history for what it is, not just the passion of studying the way that people once lived their lives, but a chance to be well rounded and free thinking. I wish that everyone found history as fascinating and exciting as I do, but I also wish that the subject was recognized for being as useful as it really is. A little bit of knowledge of everything is needed to fully understand the Industrial Revolution, the English Restoration, or the Age of Enlightenment. For instance, politics and government, philosophy, sociology and economics are just a few areas that are brought into understand the importance of these events and they are areas of knowledge that can be used throughout life.
I want to study history so that the advantages that I gain can turn into advantages for any student that is required to take a history course. After all, interpreting the past is the key to interpreting the world as we move through it. Human beings are observers, it is true, but we also use the knowledge that we have to shape our lives and the world around us. With the proper abilities, interpretation can being about creating amazing futures.
