Thursday 18 September 2014

The Importance of History

Here it is...It's my first Historical Blog!

In 2012, I graduated from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Lampeter, Carmarthenshire with a 2:1 in Single Honours History and I am now in the process of completing my PGCE to become a fully qualified teacher in the lifelong learning sector. For those of you who don't know, this means working with students who attend College rather than school.

So these days I don't get much time to myself to delve in the world of historical writing. I miss having the time to sit down and write a historical article or even sit down and read a History book. My collection of History books have been getting larger and larger and so has my reading list.

One of the first things I always ask my A-level History students is 'Why is History important?"
This comes from one of the first classes I had taken during my degree. The subject was 'Knights and Castles' taught by an Archaeology lecturer. The History department at my university was merged with two other subjects with the understanding that they are all interlinked. It was the Department of Archaeology, History and Anthropology. Every student has their own reason as to why their subject is important and so did this lecturer. With a combination of these students in her class, she proceeded to upset one - third of them by declaring that History does not matter as much as archaeology. History is meaningless and cannot survive without the archaeological evidence.

That may have been her opinion but this is mine: