US History (Monday, January 9, 7th period)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh put down his copy of the Washington Post when students began arriving.

"Welcome to US history. I'm Josh Lyman and up until a few weeks ago I was the deputy chief of staff for President Josiah Bartlet. You may all be suitably impressed now." He looked around the room. "Good."

"A few quick things. First of all, this won't be like most history classes you've had. Um, if you're from the United States and this part of the timeline, in any case. And can I say upfront that even having to modify my statement like that is still a bit on the weird side for my taste?

"Moving on. I'm not going to be teaching this class as a series of dates that you'll memorize for tests and then forget. Dates don't matter. Events matter. Broad themes matter." He raised his eyebrows. "There'll still be tests, though, but don't stress yourselves out trying to remember the exact date that the Northwest Territories opened to white settlement or the day Chief Joseph surrendered.

"I'm also not going to waste time explaining that the United States is the best country in the history of history, which was pretty much the overarching theme of my high school history classes. America has made some tremendous achievements and some huge strides towards freedom for all--but we're not there yet, and we've certainly had some colossal screw-ups. If you don't think so, I invite you to pay a visit to Pine Ridge reservation out in South Dakota, or to read the Dred Scot decision.

"History isn't static, and there isn't just one interpretation of any event. This class will be about discussing this fact." He looked around the room. "Which means if you don't open your mouth, you're not going to do very well. I'm not huge on paperwork, so most of your grade will be based on class participation."

He picked up a sign-up sheet from his desk. "Please be sure to sign in every class. If you're not here, you can't participate. If you can't participate, you can't pass. Also, you get detention, which I'm led to believe isn't your standard 'sit in a musty classroom with the health teacher' deal."

He smiled and pointed at the board, where he had scrawled a quote. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. "George Santayana wasn't talking about summer school. After you've signed in, please introduce yourself to the class and tell us what you think he meant."

Comments

Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat." Pretentious, yes. But it is also true?

Re: Discussion question.

[http://users.livejournal.com/___lily_evans_/]

"Hullo all," Lily said looking around the room. "I'm Lily Evans, for those who don't already know me."

"I think he meant for people to think - and to look outside of themselves. This quote is usually referenced in terms of mistakes, I believe. Take a look at the mistakes others have made through time and make the effort to do better, to be more. We're lucky enough as a civilisation to not be making this up as we go - others have gone before us and we must learn from them in order to continue moving forward."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh perked up at Lily's accent. "Are you British?" he asked.

Re: Discussion question.

[mycanonhatesme]

"Hey. I'm Chloe Sullivan," she says, smiling.

"I agree with Lily. Even the most basic survival requires learning from one's mistakes, and learning from the mistakes of others. Learning history certainly isn't basic, but it's along the same line - if we don't learn from how people failed and succeeded at running this country in the past, those same mistakes will be made again, and the successes might not be repeated."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Very good," Josh said. "Can you think of an example of when the US didn't learn from history?"

Re: Discussion question.

[courier-gavin.livejournal.com]

"I'm Jake Gavin junior, and I think that people have tiny little minds, and attentionspans only mildly better than goldfish and wee short lives," he waved his coffee. "Which means we're just starting to get a hang on things when we're not anymore, so unless we look back, we're gonna keep on messing up exactly the same way as people have done before us."

It's possibly not the most coherent statement ever, but it's what he thinks.

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh blinked. "Huh. And yeah, we do have a habit of repeating the same mistakes over and over, even with the benefit of thousands of years of history yelling 'moron, that's a bad idea!'" He looked at Jake. "Can you think of an example of a mistake that's been made more than once, despite history showing us that it's a completely boneheaded idea?"

Re: Discussion question.

[lovechildblair.livejournal.com]

Blair bounced happily. "I'm Blair Sandburg, freshman." He waved cheerfully.

"I think that history is quite possibly the most important thing that we can learn. The history of our surroundings, our family and ourselves is what makes us who we are. But I'm not sure about the quote. I think history is cycical. We do repeat it, on a basic level all the time. And aren't there parts that we want to repeat? Like exploration and discovery and advancing human rights?"

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"I agree that history isn't quite the straight line towards progress that the textbooks would like it to be." Josh smiled. "And the excitement of exploration and discovery, to be the first to know something, has been a driving force in humanity for millennia, regardless of the cycle. I think it helps balance out the truly boneheaded mistakes we also seem to repeat."

Re: Discussion question.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Erm, yes. Like, say, you had a war with a peoples in the past, because of, like, gross negligence and inhuman treatment. If you don't change your attitude towards them, you're just gonna get into the same trouble again and this time they'll have nukes." Cally scratches her chin.

"Oh, I'm Cally, by the way. And the whole of US History is gonna be completely new to me, just so you know."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"That's a very good point to make, um, Cally," Josh said, making a note on his class list. If he was named Veruca, he wouldn't go by it either.

"Why is US history so new to you?"

Re: Discussion question.

[absolutesnark]

Piper glances around the room and smiles. "Hi. I'm Piper Halliwell."

"I agree with the statement somewhat. If we don't learn from the failures of the past, we will continue to make mistakes over and over again. But, not everything in the past was a mistake. It would be beneficial to learn from the positive aspects of history as well."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Can you give me an example of something positive from the past that you think would be relevant in the 21st Century?" Josh asked.

Re: Discussion question.

[wraithbaitjohn.livejournal.com]

"Hi I'm John Sheppard. There's like a completely unproportional number of people named John or some variation thereof around here, so most folks have just taken to calling me 'Shep'. Cuts out a lot of the confusion." He gives a slight wave to the class.

"Anyway, the guy was saying that big scale or small, if you aren't looking around and taking notice of what's going on, what's already happened, you're totally going to get razzed if you make the same dumbass - can I say that in here? - mistake some other poor schmo has. You get to be called a pioneer if you make an original mistake. You're the dork who didn't study history if you make one that's already been made."

John shrugs. He hates trying to be profound, especially when everyone else has already said most of what he wanted to say.

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh made a note on his class list. "I probably won't remember anyone's names, but I'll try to remember that you're Shep," he said. "There are mistakes that seem like original ones until you look back and realize it's the same stupid move but in a different century, or with better technology, or slightly different circumstances. Custer, in the short time he had left on the Earth before the entirety of the Lakota nation rode down on him, probably thought he had made a completely new mistake." He looked at Shep. "Can you think of an example of a mistake that we keep making over and over again and still seem to be surprised by?"

Re: Discussion question.

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

"I'm Veronica Mars and I agree with what other people have said. It's important to learn from your mistakes. People who don't know that certain things didn't work certain ways end up wasting time and resources trying to make them work that way again."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh laughed. "There are millions of dollars of federal money devoted to trying to make things work again that never worked in the first place. Can you think of a specific example?"

Re: Discussion question.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Lana Lang. As people have been saying, if you don't look at what happened in the past and look at the consequences of particular actions were, you're more likely to make the same mistakes others did. For example, looking at the problems that resulted from things like the Reconstructions that took place at the end of the Civil War and World War I might give us some ideas how how we should and shouldn't hadnle the reconstruction that's going on now in Iraq.

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Suddenly the news stories he had been reading in the Post made a lot more sense.

Josh nodded. "A page from World War II wouldn't hurt, either. The Marshall Plan was a piece of brilliance. The current mess in Iraq? Not so much."

Re: Discussion question.

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

"Chiana. And I pretty much agree what everybody else said. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. Not even bothering to find out if...if some being tried it already and got those results is just... kinda dumb."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Huh. A student who was...um...definitely not from around here. Josh pretended like it didn't bother him because he didn't want to accidentally offend her.

"That's my favorite definition of insanity, actually," he said with a smile.

Re: Discussion question.

[sooo_cute]

"Yes," Quinn say with a definite nod. "It's like retro. I mean, it's cool in small doses, but did we learn nothing from psychadelic prints and elephant bell bottoms? If you can't figure out it was a stupid move back then, you deserve the mocking you'll get now."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh stared at Quinn. The words coming out of her mouth sounded like English and seemed to be making sense to her.

He just couldn't figure out what she was talking about. "Um, yeah," he said, giving her a smile. "Exactly."

Re: Discussion question.

[iwasawesome.livejournal.com]

"Maybe if you're still alive," Lilly says after a little thought. "I mean, I get the whole thing they tell you with like, the Holocaust, and holy crap don't do that again, pay attention idiots. But when you're dead, you get a different perspective on history and time and stuff. Thinking you can escape it in one lifetime just seems foolish, no matter how many books you crack."

Re: Discussion question.

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"If you're still alive?" Josh asked. "Oh! Are you another undead American, like Donna, my TA? Are you registered to vote?"