We often come across people arguing about the significance of learning history. Some believe that it is one of the most important subjects, while others find it too boring and unimportant. Analysing the arguments given by both the groups might help to draw a conclusion.

People who find history dreary, believe that it is a sheer waste of time to look in the nooks and crannies of past when future invites modern man to meet its tiresome challenges. They argue that it will be more productive if one stops pondering over what has been done and start to think regarding what has to be done. That way we could find solutions to our existing and upcoming problems.

For example, it seems quite pointless to study the story of independence after 61 years of achieving it. It is even more absurd to spend hours to merely learn when and how Mughals landed in the subcontinent. Instead, if children spend their time studying mathematics, languages, computer, science or some other valuable subject, they could grow up to face this world in a better way. Hence history is a mere burden for young minds.

However, there is the other side of the picture. Some people are strongly in favour of teaching history. They say that historians bridge the gap between the past and future of mankind.

Man has always been very inquisitive. It has always searched for the origin of all matter. Quite obviously, it wants to know the tale of its own creation. This is when archaeologists and historians intervene. Through history they show mankind its past. History is a subject which shows us how we first landed on this planet. In the pages of history we undertake the journey from being simple ape-man to a civilised Homo Sapien.

It is history which preserves the stories of our vulnerability. How we were just animals, dependant upon the forces of nature and how we grew powerful and sophisticated. Yet, we preserved our barbarism and devised modern weapons to harm our own specie. History is the subject which has helped us to retain the mistakes committed by those before us. If it was not recorded by historians, mankind would have soon forgotten the atomic bomb raid on Hiroshima. The cries of hundreds of people killed at Nazi camps would not have echoed through all these years. Most probably we would not be celebrating Independence Day to commemorate our heroes.

Supporters of history argue that it is indeed a credit to this subject that mankind has been given a chance to learn from its mistakes. This subject teaches modern man to realise that he must not repeat cruel acts since the consequences are also known.

History, they claim, is not a burden for students. In fact, it helps them to realise their own worth as human beings.
In the light of both perspectives, I must admit that history is indeed an important subject. It should be studied with interest, concentration and comprehension. I would end by quoting Cicero “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history.”