History

By Michael Foster
Minnesota Department of Education
Instructional Specialist

The study of History helps students to see how people in other times and places have grappled with the fundamental questions of truth, justice and personal responsibility. It helps students understand that ideas and actions have real consequences, and realize events are shaped by both the ideas and the actions of individuals. Students may study history specific to Minnesota, the United States or the World.

The study of U.S. History helps students understand the democratic traditions of the United States, how these traditions were established, and how they continue in the present. U.S. History also helps students understand that the United States is a nation built by ordinary and extraordinary individuals united in an ongoing quest for liberty, freedom, justice and opportunity. It helps students understand how much courage and sacrifice it has taken to win and keep our freedom and liberty.

The study of World History helps students understand the major developments in the civilizations of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas. World History helps students recognize the common problems shared by all humankind. It shows them how, over time, increasing interactions among nations and civilizations have shaped human life and how individuals and nations have successfully or unsuccessfully met their challenges.

Why study History?

If Americans are to preserve the vision of those who founded this country and bring it to daily practice, it is imperative that all citizens study U.S. History so each understands how our country was shaped in the past, what events and forces either helped or obstructed its development, and how it has evolved to give us the circumstances and political discussions of the present.

World History should be studied to make students aware of the increasing global connections in the areas of commerce, politics, technology and communications, transportation, and migration and resettlement. These connections make an understanding of the world's many cultures especially important to foster the respect and understanding required in a connected and interdependent world.

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