Black and white clock, 2018.
history pragmatic historian

The Skills History Teaches

As I’ve been working through History’s Hierarchy of Purpose, I’ve been thinking more deeply about all the skills that practicing history can teach us. As I continue to unpack that, I’ve come across a couple of articles that mention some of those skills.

Fernande Raine discusses some of these skills in her Medium article, “Why History is Good for You [https://medium.com/@fernande/why-history-is-good-for-you-353d393776df].” I wholeheartedly agree with her assessment that history is cool, but that it suffers a marketing problem. We spend far too much time, as she says, talking about history “as a risk-management strategy to avert something horrible.” Blech.  We’ve got to change that.

Anna Moro lists numerous critical skills that the humanities, including history, can teach us in her article on The Conversation called “How a humanities degree will serve you in a disruptive economy.” She names history specifically in one example:

You might be writing a history essay, for example, but you’re developing important broader skills by doing it.

You’re gathering information from different points of view, you’re using it to marshal an effective argument and to present it effectively in writing, with supporting evidence.

As you read these articles, can you think of other skills that history can teach us? If so, please share in the comments.