Professor MacQueen

 

For your response posts, address the following:

  1. What perspectives did your peers offer that you had not considered previously regarding the value of a historically informed population?
  2. Share other ways being more historically informed could help your peers understand or act on the community issue they identified.

Kate post

 

Not everyone likes to learn about history, most do not even try, but those that know about past events know about trends in humanity. They know the trial and tribulation that many minorities have gone thru and still continue to go thru today. Sometimes you have to dig deep to uncover the truth about what has happened in the past, most people only know what they learned in history class. Most of what is learned in history books are not the whole story about the events that accured. To know about those things not taught in classes or left out of the history books you must research and read into the matter yourself. By learning about the past, for yourself, you can better understand some of the problems of today, to understand what minorities are fighting for now you must understand what they have come thru and over-came. 

Lynzy post

 

  1. Citizens should have the responsibility of being historically informed as we are constantly making history and can learn from our current and past mistakes. We should be able to look at events such as political decisions and tragic social events such as lynchings and other murders and be able to dig down to the heart of the issue. We should be responsible to heal the issue from the beginning so that we learn from history, but not repeat it. We should be responsible for trying to see the other side of the story before making a judgement call and allow for the possibility of being wrong. Citizens in the U.S. do not (on average) have enough information regarding other countries and how things work there. We know our own history, but we rarely know another countries history and who told them that story. I believe by being taught how to be historically informed we could increase our understanding for cultural differences and this would help global challenges. This is the only way for us to help each other instead of trample on others beliefs and culture because we don’t understand it at first. 
  2.  A current challenge that is affects my community is the possible overturn of Roe v Wade of 1973 absorption law via the Supreme court (link below). Being historically informed about the history of abortion laws and how they differ from state to state and country to country is huge. We can look at states that have banned it and see what those consequences are and vice versa on a smaller scale. We can look back to how long this issue has been in the courts and listen to each side’s strong arguments. Since this topic can be very passionate it would be imperative for anyone advocating for or against the overturn of Roe to strip away their own bias and assumptions to hear and rationalize the opposing sides. Additionally, since the issue keeps coming back up for debate there is a chance for it to come up again in the future to appeal the overturn if it does happen. Being informed with how this kind of abortion law affects not only U.S. citizens but other countries is valuable in the debate to have the courts be apart of the personal decision. Also, how we may be able to alter the rulings or educate people to reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies is another solution. Starting where the problem begins and continue from there.