Nobody even studies history any more. Literally all history is fake news.
What used to be "history" was reading the ORIGINAL SOURCES of letters and official documents from people who lived in the past. Study enough of these and you get a broad picture of what happened and what people of different cultures thought at the time. Since history usually repeats itself, such studies can prove invaluable in predicting the future and human behavior.
The founders of the US - and most learned people at the time - were very knowledgeable of history.
For the last 80 years what people have called "History" is taking some pedogogue's abridged analysis of snippets of sources, whether it's in committee-designed standardized textbooks, some Pulitzer prize winning journalist's book, or an encyclopedia, and crafting it into a narrative that you want to believe. At best we get "meta-history". We don't analyze the information - we just consume. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't taught that this is the absolute truth rather than someone's understanding or opinion. You don't know the truth unless you've looked at original sources. (and sometimes not even then, since ancient people also had their own biases and stories to tell, which is why you have to compare a broad range of sources)
I also don't get why college educated scholars who should know all this aren't up in arms about the decrepit state of learning in the world. They seem fine with the average public just getting curated selections of historical trivia and thinking we know history.
Imagine the average person's impression of the American Civil War vs the real story. The history people learn is basically the Netflix adaptation
From Don McLean the writer of the son American Pie:
Nobody even studies history any more. Literally all history is fake news.
What used to be "history" was reading the ORIGINAL SOURCES of letters and official documents from people who lived in the past. Study enough of these and you get a broad picture of what happened and what people of different cultures thought at the time. Since history usually repeats itself, such studies can prove invaluable in predicting the future and human behavior.
The founders of the US - and most learned people at the time - were very knowledgeable of history.
For the last 80 years what people have called "History" is taking some pedogogue's abridged analysis of snippets of sources, whether it's in committee-designed standardized textbooks, some Pulitzer prize winning journalist's book, or an encyclopedia, and crafting it into a narrative that you want to believe. At best we get "meta-history". We don't analyze the information - we just consume. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't taught that this is the absolute truth rather than someone's understanding or opinion. You don't know the truth unless you've looked at original sources. (and sometimes not even then, since ancient people also had their own biases and stories to tell, which is why you have to compare a broad range of sources)
I also don't get why college educated scholars who should know all this aren't up in arms about the decrepit state of learning in the world. They seem fine with the average public just getting curated selections of historical trivia and thinking we know history.