When Will World History Teach the History of the World by RueAnn

When Will World History Teach the History of the World by RueAnn - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

Confucius, an extremely influential philosopher and politician from the Spring and Autumn period of China, said “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” And this is still relevant today, but I see another trait education can breed. Respect. An enormous problem today is people have no respect for the cultures and history of other countries and peoples. From wars being waged on the principle that a singular race of humans was superior hundreds of years ago, to celebrities being called out on Twitter today for their tone-deaf fashion choices on the red carpet. We could avoid all of this if people were to become educated about other cultures and learn to respect them.

Today many schools’ history classes are a joke. For example, my high school’s “Modern World History” consisted of history from England. It only reached a fraction of the history the world truly has to offer. Because of this, I no longer take any of my high school’s history classes. Not to mention, the only other ones available are classes on U.S. history. The root of solving this problem is to add more international history. For example, the history that the entirety of the United States pales in comparison to that of Asia’s history. From the relationships between the many countries and the internal dynamics of the countries themselves, there is so much to cover. The number of untapped lessons and sorties teachers and schools have missed out on is enormous. Why do you think all the YouTube channels dedicated to teaching you “things you never learned in history class” are still pumping out videos?

You may be wondering, how will teaching more world history breed respect? I believe that if one was to become educated and aware of people, they will become respectful of them. From the dawn of history, the root of the disrespect for other cultures comes from a lack of understanding. If you teach to the point of a person understanding a person’s reason for their tradition and practices, then you teach respect. It’s even better when you put into perspective the reasoning behind why this tradition is so important and relate it to the tradition of that person. It then becomes relatable and enlightening for the student to continue learning.

In conclusion, I would like to see a change in the teaching of history in education. I can tell you that once I learned about different cultures, my respect for them grew, along with my desire to know more. I’m positive that this can lead to great things for the future. It may be small, but I believe that once you breed respect, then you breed confidence, then finally you breed hope.