From September 11 to the war in Iraq and from the arguments between Palestine and Jerusalem to this month’s car bombing at a United Nations hotel in Iraq, history is being made all around us.
Decades from now, these stories and events will appear in history textbooks alongside the Kennedy assassination and the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
But to the chagrin of many high school history teachers around the country, they are finding it hard to incorporate current events into their lectures.
Some high school instructors have said the necessity to meet state and nationally mandated curriculum requirements and assessment tests means current events rarely get discussed thoroughly, according to a recent cnn.com article.
History teachers on campus, unlike high school history teachers, have the ability to cater their lessons to what they would like their students to learn.
Gaines Foster, a University history professor, said the history department at LSU gives teachers free reign over what they teach their students.
“Professors have a responsibility to teach the course described in the catalog and approved by various faculty committees,” Foster said. “But within those broad descriptions, individual professors have considerable freedom to design the course around those events and issues that they find most important.”
Foster teaches the U.S. to 1865 history class and said he incorporates current world and national events when they fit in with his daily discussions.
“When current events are relevant to the topics at hand, I try to make that point and draw the connections,” Foster said. “On occasion, a longer discussion might ensue.”
Zack Arrington, a English freshman, said when he takes his first history class at LSU he would like to hear about events that are current along with history lessons.
“I just think current events are completely relevant,” Arrington said. “Studying history helps to understand what is going on now.”
Heather Chapman, an undecided freshman, agreed with Arrington.
Current events “add to the history of the past by learning from our mistakes,” Chapman said.
However, Foster acknowledged that students should place some responsibility on themselves to learn about current events.
“I would hope that students would find time on their own to discuss current events, and that my courses would help provide the historical background and context to do so with greater knowledge and more critical insight,” Foster said.
Not all on campus agree with the concept of relating current events to previous happenings.
Paul Paskoff, chair of the Department of History, said he does not apply current events to his U.S History to 1865 course.
“A history course is just that – a course concerning a particular historical period, event, or development,” Paskoff said. “I don’t believe that it should serve as a forum for examining current events.”
Jordan Tremblay, a mass communication junior, has taken an American history class at LSU and said history is just that – history.
“It’s a history class: you are supposed to learn about history, not current events,” Tremblay said.