How
History Changes, What Is a Comparison in This Course, and How Can Doing
Comparisons Help You? One of the things that makes history difficult for
people to understand is that history changes. For example, something that can
be a true statement about 1620 can be a false statement by 1660 or 1865 (for US
History I) and about 1865 can also be a false statement about 1896 or 1954 or
1965 (for US History II). Focusing on a single issue or group from the
beginning to the end of a time period can help you identify what you
misunderstood and recognize how history changed. History can change and people
made a difference in what happened in the nation’s history—for good or for bad.
Further, all changes (whether for good or bad) can be reversed—and once again
it is people who protect change or reverse it.
In this course, a
Comparison means you compare two time periods experienced by a specific group.
For example, with the first Comparison, you compare two time periods experienced
by blacks in the South.
Comparisons are a
practical writing assignment that can help you in many ways:
- They are an academic writing project that is also a common
task in jobs and in personal decisions.
- They require basic content that all of you need to read and understand, but you select from possible choices
what two things you want to
examine.
- They are brief (1 page maximum), something that you may
find easier to schedule. Practicing being brief can also help you learn
because you have to understand facts to compress them. (You can repeat
words without learning.)
- They are the smallest project requires critical thinking,
something key to your future.
- They focus on how history changes over time so you correct
possible misunderstandings about the past and also notice what people did
(or didn’t do) that made those changes happen. Learning what people did
reveals both possible strategies and personal responsibility in the past
and in your future.