History puts today's problems in context.
<br>
<br>For instance, the debate over gun ownership. Those who hate guns claim there was never REALLY a guarenteed right to own them. Just a right for states to have militias. But if you know history, you know the argument wasn't about states' rights or militias at all.
<br>
<br>It was about keeping government in check. But if you don't know history you can and will be lied to by those who either don't know better or hope you won't know any better.
<br>
<br>A knowlege of history, like any knowlege, is empowering. You know the world for what it is and not what someone else tells you it is. You have the informaiton to make up your own mind.
<br>
<br>Of course, you have all you need to make the wrong choices or the wrong decisions as well as the right ones. But they're your mistakes. You can learn from them. Just as history teaches you to learn from other people's mistakes as well as their successes.
<br>
<br>The same argument can be applied to the study of any subject, from history to computers to quantum mechanics. Know the world for what it is. Only then can you evaluate your place in it and use your knowlege to your advantage.
<br>
