History is one of the ‘big four’ subjects in school, alongside Mathematics, English and Science. Unfortunately, history has seen a great decline in schools.

History used to be much more comprehensive and deep. Students would examine the major events of European and world history such as the rise of the ancient civilisations, complex evolutions of social and governmental systems (feudalism, liberalism, democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, communism, capitalism), great personalities such as Napoleon, Augustus, Constantine, von Bismarck, Churchill, Justinian, Charlemagne, etc., the rise of Christianity and Islam, the great European revolutions, the World Wars, etc.

However, throughout my entire high school career, in which I was determined to take as many history classes as possible, I never studied these events in great detail with the exception of the Second World War (in Europe), Russia, and some other isolated periods.

The focus has been on learning skills and writing, but this has lead to a decline in the comprehensiveness and breadth of content. I feel that this is detrimental to the study of history, because most people want to learn history in order to learn more about the nations and peoples of the world. Instead, this is diluted in favour of preparing for systematic assessments like the HSC.

Learning should be for the sake of learning, not for exam marks. Learn history!

Raphael Dokos