History is a Teacher

If you stop to think about it, the word "past" has absolutely no meaning at all. Why
should we even care about something that has already happened? It already happened, what
value would it provide for us to keep dwelling on it? Won't looking back just prevent us from
progressing and moving forward? However, the past or the history, to be precise, is important.
No lies on the line, history is indeed boring to dig up, even so, the study of History is a must for
every human being. To give you a gist of how important history is, set this scenario as an
example, women, they’re good historians—of course, not literally—they can dig up and unearth
the details of your past, even those that you have buried the deepest, and once they have found
out something—take note, even it’s already in the past—it would still have an impact. Just like
history, even it’s all in the past, it nonetheless affects our present setting and may even have an
effect on the future. To give not much of a say, let’s all dive down to why we should study
history.

Why is history important enough to warrant study? First, let's define history. There are
several definitions of history that have been offered by various historians, archeologists, and
other professionals. Here, however, are definitions that encompass the various points of view and
perspectives on what history is. History is a study of past events; it is the methodical
investigation and recording of human history. It is what the general public views as the
unchanging foundation upon which historians and archaeologists stand (Hirst, 2019). It is an
academic discipline with a narrative used to explain, study, question, and analyze previous
events as well as look for or investigate the trends in the causes and effects of actual occurrences
(Evans, 2001). With all the definition I have encountered, to my stand of realization, history can
be compared to a teacher, as it teaches us many things, beyond what were laid obvious
significance of history, things that we may or may not noticed but have taught us something. Let
me walk you into my realizations as to why history is a teacher.

From the definition itself, history helps us to understand our own lives; at this point,
history acts as a teacher as it teaches us of things that will contribute to—well, what I had just
said—the understanding of our own lives, as well as the society, and including our identity—
that’s already an importance of studying history. Studying history offers insight into the past,
comprehending the current and potential future developments for people, countries, and the
international community. Studying history teaches us about the origins of societies and looks at
the cultural, political, social, and economic factors that have shaped them over time and space
(Sturtevant, 2017).

We can learn from history, and with that being said, the first lesson that history offers is
that it aids us in understanding the immense complexity of our environment today as we reflect
from a historical perspective. It fosters understanding of the world today (society, people,
political system, and such), we see how certain events turned out or ended and why the society
came to be, what triggered the occurrences and the effects, what progresses through the changes,
what changed and the reasons for changes; or even identify the factors that shaped the past, the
present, and even utilize history to foresee the future. With history, it will give explanation of
why and how we came to this current setting. Take these thoughts as an example: How the
gender roles and social norms that people attend to, today, rooted from, and why people are
fighting to eliminate these? Another, Muslims are engaged to polygamous marriage and
Catholics forbid that for as to them it is a considered a sin, why do Muslims engage to that and
why do Catholics don’t? How did the Muslims become polygamous and the Catholics don’t?
How and why the Muslims think that polygamy is not a sin and why the Catholics say
otherwise? In order for one to answer these fruits of curious mind, one must look back to where
it all started. Let’s say the policies, policies of current society guide our behaviors and actions
towards the society, thus, giving explanation and justification to why we function in the society
in a certain way. Understanding and knowing our history, will help us to understand ourselves
more, as this is also linked to giving us and understanding our identity.

How can history give us the sense of identity? How come can history defines me? Take
this as an example, if you had an amnesia and forgot everything about your past, do you still
know who you are? No, you can’t even remember your name, your family, or simply who you
are—that is just like history. By studying our cultural and ancestral history, we can gain an
insight into ourselves; what defines us and our identity is largely shaped by our cultural heritage
and ancestry. Cultural factors contributed to the cultivation of our identities and sense of
belongingness, the legacy our ancestors have left us are our pride (Yesterday's America, n.d.).
Well, the history of our country or nation, is our history; it is our nation’s story that gives us
identity. History allows us to understand our social structure, political structure, cultures,
traditions, and belief systems (Nord Anglia, 2023). Like how the Philippines is the only Christian
nation in Asia, and Christianity is still very much a living legacy of colonialism and plays a
significant role in both national politics and the day-to-day lives of individual residents. It has
also taken on forms that diverge greatly from the colonial church, most notably in some festivals,
the expansion of autonomous churches in the Philippines, and evangelical techniques toward
indigenous communities (Goh, 2005); Filipinos are known to be religious or identified as
Christians, due to the fact that the Filipinos became Christians because of the influence of
Spaniards when they took control over the Philippines for over 300 years or from year 1565 to
1898. History teaches us of how does people from various nation, varies on perspectives, beliefs,
way of living, language, or all in all culture—which what defines a person, traits that are only
incorporated to them, which gives a distinction resulting for an identity. Linked to these is the
understanding of ourselves. It gives sense to what we are today, it gives sense to why we are
today.

Aligned to what was said, we can learn from history, history is once again a teacher, in
the aspect of growth of not only the collective side or of the country but also on the individual
stand, as we see patterns as they come into view again and lay hold of solace in the fact that
others have gone through similar struggles. With history, we can prevent doing the same
mistakes again, for we will see the pattern and reasons why certain issues surfaced, thus, will
result for people to avoid doing it again. Teodoro A. Agoncillo said, “we use history to avoid the
same mistakes of the past, not to recreate the very same events,” (Ocampo A. R., 1995). And
let’s put it like this, if so that we did—since history can not directly prevent mistakes—we can
pattern the current situation or mistake from what happened before and look on the strategy that
had existed, evaluate and analyze the ways or methods how the past overcame the problem, if
these ways are still applicable up to this day and/or it needs a bit of changes and incorporation of
other concepts or methods. Although historical lessons can't always prevent disaster, they can
offer valuable perspectives for the present and even the future. In this sense, this is linked to
another significance of studying history, it makes us better decision makers, for it allows us to
pattern and learn from past mistakes and improve judgment, history sheds light that aids in our
comprehension of the myriad causes why people may behave the way they do. This result for making
us more unbiased decision makers and more sympathetic individuals (Yesterday's America, n.d.).
Consequently, those who do not know the history, are bound to get a headache again. Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (Santayana, 1905).

With all the matters realized above, have you noticed that history teaches us values and
morals that we can pick up from historical personal accounts of the people of the time? History
serves as an aesthetic guide and moral teacher (Yadav, 2012).

History teaches us new skills and allow us to acquire skills that are important in reality,
how so? Just a reminder, history is not easy to write, and it is not only about writing and writing.
History is factual, a factual record of the past. It can help us to acquire skills because history is
both science and art (Ajaegbo, 2013). In order for you to write history, it is done systematically.

Science is important in history, it encompasses the skills of investigation, research,

analytical and logical reasoning, gathering of data, verification of data, and putting data together;
and if you think that is easy, well, you spoke too early, for history is not all that. Although
history really needs science, history won’t be a success without art, historical facts require
interpretation (Ivic, 2022); Consequently, history ( because we are interpreting facts) also allows
us to understand human nature as well because we try to interpret what happened, history shows
and explain different kinds of emotions that a human can feel, how people are driven by
emotions, goals and motives of people, the capability of people, how people progressed through
the transitions, and the root of certain actions and behaviors. Without being able to establish
some sort of contact with the minds of the people that the historians are writing about, historians
are unable to write history (Carr, 1961). Example is how Teodoro Agoncillo, understood
Aguinaldo’s actions give the message that he had no faith in Spanish promises, though he did not
say that, but by studying his actions, it led to that conclusion.

Artistic sense in history comes in the form of imagination and interpretation,

interpolation, and weaving together the data, not just putting them together (like what is done in
science), but making them flow like a stream of river; this what I have understood from Teodor
Agoncillo’s essay, “Imagination in History.” Interpretation is an aspect of imagination, young
students should be taught to not only gather facts, verify, and put them together—which is the
only scientific part in history—but it is important to develop artistic sense, because history is
more humanities than of science (Agoncillo, 2003).
 Historians must interpret facts and evidences they have, however, considering the time
before and the state of technology by the time, the evidences and set of facts are limited and
sometimes were not readily available—this is one problem that historians face, so, the best friend
of historians for interpreting history, is imagination. Imagination allows historians to understand
what could actually had happened and reconstruct the past (Agoncillo, 2003). When you
interpret data, it helps you to fill in the gaps which results for the narration of history to flow
easy. The fictionalization of history acknowledges the role that imagination plays in historians'
attempts to portray historical events as they actually occurred, for past events cannot be
perceived, there is ample room for imagination (Ivic, 2018).

Aside from the limited evidences of the past, history is not complete, it will never be
complete (Agoncillo, 2003). There is a possibility there could be new version of history as time
progress, some overlooked problems might surface and new realizations will come to light,
because of technological advancements. We don’t know, if those found evidences that we
currently have are all that of history, there is a possibility that some evidences of the past may
not have been found, and once these evidences came to light, history will change. And the way
the minds and understanding of people have developed over time because of the development of
education and technology as well, if historians and new historians interpret history, there is a
possibility of change, for their interpretation might influence history. Just like how Ambeth
Ocampo, a Filipino historian, was speculated to be inventing new things, when he only actually
found and realized something new, simply because he confronts the questions on history that no
one dared to tackle about. And just like the disability of Apolinario Mabini that many historians
claimed was a syphilis, and raised questions, however, as time progress, in 1980, a group of
medical professionals from the National Orthopedic Hospital conducted an autopsy and
excavated Mabini's bones and found out that Mabini's paralysis, which manifested at the age of
thirty-one, was caused by polio; because of the developed education and advancement of
technology. Therefore, there is a possibility that the existing facts our lives evolve at this time,
the history that gave us an identity, could still change, and is bound to change for there is no
absolute and final conclusion of history. And there never will. What do we know? Maybe polio
wasn’t really the one that cost Mabini’s legs, maybe there’s an illness that we haven’t—or to say,
the experts—haven’t found out yet. What is valid before may be valid today, or, may not be valid
today anymore.
 Writing and studying history takes up a lot of time, gathering facts and evidences were
not easy, plus, you still have to confirm and verify if the gathered evidences were reliable.
Another, there are authors who have different perspectives regarding some particular histories,
which is actually hard to come to a conclusion of one truth. The research and writing process is a
challenge (Festle, n.d.). History must be written scholarly, because if not, it can lead to
misinterpretation and technically misinformation. History is so powerful, it gives us identity and
fosters understanding of ourselves and society, it can shape and mold us, so, it must be written
properly.

One more thing, history depends on historians’ interpretation. Even if the same historians
were given the same set of facts and employed the same imagination, the conclusion can never
be the same because people have different interpretation (Agoncillo, 2003). And the author could
have been influenced by their background which affects their interpretation and views or
perspectives. Like how other Spanish and American historians who wrote a colonialist
perspective history of the Philippines. Thus, there is a possibility that historians and their works
were, at some point, biased.

In addition, one problem in history is that, the absence of written data, the historians have
no direct access of the history or the past, events come and go and so, what was left are traces of
the past events into which are in the form of primary and secondary sources; and because of the
shortcomings of written, modern sources, and the biases, historians tend to accumulate
information from oral tradition. Nonetheless, there are many challenges associated with using
oral sources in historical reconstruction, with chronology being one of the most notable.

Some historians are afraid to confront the existing facts (Ocampo A. , 2001). History
gives us identity, it helps us to understand our world today, hence, it has the power to mold and
change us, and with histories being so objective and seem complete, how could we know if
there’s actually no mistakes to what we believe are facts? And some history accounts, because it
was done systematically, were not questioned. Thus, they are unable to give insights of today’s
world.

Another, there is the danger of overemphasizing (Agoncillo, 2003). The historians misuse
imagination, leading history to be fictionalized. This happens when imagination is no longer
anchored by logic and common experience, as to what Agoncillo had explained. It leads to
misinformation and will make people believe what actually does not exist, or what is not yet
proven. This could affect their interpretation and understanding of identity and society as a
whole.

I conclude with something I have realized, and to note, this realization is I consider as a
problem in studying history, we—well, most of us—study history to answer the past. Some
historians and even those that are not, study history to anticipate the future and gather
information of how the present time came to be. And yes, I said that’s a significance of history
but I see it as a problem too. We should study history, revisit once more, and use the present
times to give clarification to the hazy points of our history, to answer the questions in history, to
give an explanation of the history, not just use history to give justification of today. Just like
about Apolinario Mabini’s polio, which I have previously mentioned, syphilis has been believed
as his illness for a long time. It’s like, the rumors of today were answered by history, but doesn’t
use present to confront rumors of yesterday.

History is beneficial to us, yes, it is indeed a teacher for it teaches us many things—which
were mentioned and explained earlier. However, we became dependent of the history that we are
afraid to confront it, afraid to confront existing facts. Yes, it gave us an identity and provided us
knowledge, in contrast, it shrinks our curiosity, because we now only utilize history to extract
information and explanation, to understand current setting of our society and pattern a solution to
our current issues and problems; but we should be careful of history, as it is not yet final, it is
still bound to change. We rely heavily on history, it is powerful that it can change and mold us;
we also rely heavily on history that we no longer utilize history to discover new truths, correct
what was believed a “fact.” I see history as a way through new knowledge, not in the sense of
just extracting information from it, but also deriving and discovering new information through it.
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