How to Avoid History Course Headaches
SaveHistory is a valuable tool for all college courses. You will most likely learn history in some form or another throughout your college journey.
History is one of the most mentally stimulating, thought-provoking, and time-consuming subjects. For those who love social sciences, history provides a contextual background for the content discussed in other fields, such as sociology or political science. History class can be a treacherous, mind-numbing chore for those who don't enjoy the subject.
As a history major, I often find myself helping my other friends in other majors with their work. There is a method to the madness of history courses. Having the proper mindset, reading and studying strategy, and critical thinking skills will allow you to succeed in a college-level history course. I will use American history as an example course, as American history is the most familiar to American students.
The Mindset
When entering your American history course, you may recollect key events you learned in secondary school. You can hopefully remember that the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War ended in 1865, and Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech occurred in 1963. Use these critical events to capsulate the time period and discuss your material. It's much easier to associate Reconstruction Era policy if you remember the major events that unfolded prior: the abolishment of slavery.
Though harkening back to your High School material may help you conceptualize the era in which you discuss, remember that your high school course material may not be entirely accurate. Most commonly, you may have learned a misconstrued recounting of history. For example, it is a common misconception that America eradicated slavery after ratifying the 13th Amendment. Your high school history teacher may have failed to mention the practice of Debt Peonage and Convict Leasing that continued forced labor well into the 1900s. Your high school history courses are usually wishy-washy footnotes of American history that often fail to account for some of America's more unpalatable stories.
Reading and Studying
History courses tend to pile a hefty amount of material onto students. It's important to read efficiently and effectively to study for a history course. Remember, nobody can soak in every detail in a week. Before reading history material, check your syllabus and learning goals. Learning goals are the most important information for the course, so search for key events and concepts within the specific goal. For example, if your learning goal is to "associate key events and societal factors that lead to the development of labor unions," you'll need to know the time period in which the labor unions developed. You may also need to understand how they developed and evolved and the economic pressures and workplace conditions that led to the necessity of unions. Ergo, labor unions developed in the late 18th to early 19th century due to harrowing workplace conditions, unlivable wages, and a wave of working-class resentment towards monopolizing industry bosses.
Critical Thinking
A critical component of a history major, critical thinking will likely challenge non-majors. Unlike STEM or creative arts courses, history requires the ability to link theories and concepts to events that unfolded in the past to make sense of the present and future. How governmental institutions form, nations collapse and merge, and racial relations change over time do not have concrete, black-and-white answers. History isn't a scientific subject. On campuses, history majors have befuddled and conflated, left-misconstrued, and forgotten over time.
We must take seriously the colloquialism "history is written by the winners." You will encounter conflicting accounts of the contents of your material. It is important to keep an open mind and discern what YOU believe is most probable using prior and subsequent events and associated concepts.
History is a valuable tool for all college courses. You will most likely learn history in some form or another throughout your college journey. For example, agronomy majors will learn about the history of cultivation and about the rapid evolution of crops spurred on through the industrial age. Historical context provides clarity to events unfolding today. We wouldn't know why Russia was invading Ukraine if we didn't understand their long-spanning history pitted against and relating to one another.
Adison Bollman
Adison Bollman was born and raised in smalltown Iowa and graduated from North Mahaska High School in New Sharon, Iowa in 2021. Adison currently attends William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa as a double major in Political Science and History. Adison articles help new students navigate through their college journey with emphasis on personal experiences and advice from professors and staff.Articles & Advice
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