Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I love this passage

from Elizabeth Peters' Borrower of the Night:
In recent years, students have done a lot of complaining about 'relevance.' No one can quarrel with the basic idea: that education should have something to do with real life and its problems. The trouble comes when you try to define the word. What is relevant? Not history, according to the more radical critics. Who cares what happened in ancient Babylon or medieval England? It's now that counts.

They couldn't be more wrong. Everything has happened before--not once, but over and over again. We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called 'the lessons of history,' but at least we should be able to recognize the issues and perhaps avoid some of the solutions that have failed in the past. And we can take heart in our own dilemma by realizing that other people in other times have survived worse.

1 comment:

Panic Attacks said...

I agree with this statement, "We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called 'the lessons of history..." That's because experience is like fashion - what was applicable before might not be done today. Short article, but it did stress the point. Thanks!