TOEFL: All university students should be required to take history courses
Even though everyone needs to know a little about history, I think if we have to choose one course to have all students take, it won't be history. History is good, but not the most important thing that we have to learn about. In addition, it can also negatively affect students' interactions inside the university.
I think history as a field of study is overvalued. As they say, people who don't learn from their mistakes in the past will inevitably repeat those mistakes in the future. However, I don't think this phrase necessarily is true. We are living in a completely different world from the past. The issues we are struggling with at this time are more complicated and we can't rely on what we have learnt from the past. For instance, the Internet affected almost all aspects of our lives in the modern era. Today, thanks to the world wide web connection, it's not easy to deceive people with wrong information about other parts of the world. It's just a matter of minutes to scroll down on the internet and find out about the reality. On the dark side, the internet made it possible for different groups to practice cyber spying without running the risk of endangering their lives. Now the question is how we can use past experiences to solve these issues while the nature of problems has changed so dramatically? I think, exposing the students to more practical courses such as modern economics, information processing, psychology and sociology equips them with more vital knowledge to survive in new conditions.
Not only learning about history is not the most important knowledge that one can acquire, but also it can negatively affect the friendly atmosphere of the universities. Today, every university tries to increase diversity among students and absorb many students from different cultures. Even if we logically accept that we all are equal, in the end, we can't deny our sense of belonging to our ethnicity, race and nationality. I strongly believe repeating the story of wars between old nations triggers people coming from two sides against each other, even when they seem to be best friends. That's why I think it's better to forget about the past and focus more efforts on fortifying friendships.
Overall, I think life always keeps changing and every time has its properties. To some extent, it would be beneficial to learn a little about the past so that we realize where our problems stem from. However, we can't apply the results of previous experiences directly to new situations. To me, enhancing our general perspective of human beings and their interactions, and analyzing each situation independently based on the existing data, seems to be more useful than relying on the outcomes of the past events.
