Welcome and Introduction to:

VOED 6513 History and Principles of Vocational Education

Dr. David M. Agnew Associate Professor Arkansas State University

History

     Main Entry: his·to·ry Pronunciation: 'his-t(&-)rE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ries Etymology: Latin historia, from Greek, inquiry, history, from histOr, istOr knowing, learned; akin to Greek eidenai to know.

What is History?

 Webster’s definitions – – – – An account of what has happened, especially to people, country, etc. All recorded past events the branch of knowledge that deals systematically with the past. A known or recorded past

What is History?….

Continued    A narrative of events; a story. A chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events.

History is a methodical record of important events which concern a community of men, usually so arranged as to show the connection of causes and effects, to give an analysis of motive and action etc.

Is History Important?

     Is it worth our time to look back?

Will knowing history affect the future?

Will we become confused with the past?

Will knowing history help us make better decisions? Would we be better off not knowing the past?

Yes

No

Maybe

  Usefulness of any knowledge depends on what you “do with it “. History can become an invisible barrier if we are not careful.

What do the great thinkers and leaders throughout history say about history?

Marcus Tullius Cicero Roman statesman 106-43 BC

 History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumes reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity.

Shakespeare

 There is a history in all men’s lives.

Napoleon

 "History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826

Third President, 1801-1809  If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Henry David Thoreau

(1817-1862)  "Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill."

Abraham Lincoln

  Fellow Citizens, we cannot escape history (Upon the subject of education) I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own….

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

1841 –1935. U.S. Supreme Court Judge   "A page of history is worth a pound of logic." “Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered that I was not God. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr .

Sir Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister during WWII   "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself." History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) Author

  "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.“ Best known for THE TIME MACHINE (1895), one of the first modern science fiction stories, THE INVISIBLE MAN (1897), and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1898).

Harry S Truman (1884-1972)

 "Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1908 –1973 Thirty-Sixth President, 1963-1969  On the subject of history….The knowledge of which gives dimension to the present, direction to the future, and humility to the leaders of men.

Albert Cooper

 "A true history of human events would show that a far larger proportion of our acts as the results of sudden impulses and accident, than of the reason of which we so much boast."

Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazurus Long

 "A generation which ignores history has no past and no future."

John Gardner

WWII Vet. Former Secretary of HEW, Author, etc.

  "History never looks like history when you are living through it.“ quoted by Bill Moyers “ We don't even know what skills may be needed in the years ahead. That is why we must train our young people in the fundamental fields of knowledge, and equip them to understand and cope with change. That is why we must give them the critical qualities of mind and durable qualities of character that will serve them in circumstances we cannot now even predict." John Gardner, "Excellence ""

Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882-1945

Thirty-Second President 1933-1945  Books cannot be killed by fire. People die but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory…….

Armstrong Williams

 We need such reminders every now and again to keep us grounded in reality and keep the most important events of our history from becoming footnotes in our memory .

– The unforgettable power of' `Beloved' Relevancy: 93; (The Washington Times ) Armstrong Williams; 10-17-1998

Jack Handey Author/Humorist

 Many people think that history is a dull subject. Dull? Is it "dull" that Jesse James once got bitten on the forehead by an ant, and at first it didn't seem like anything, but then the bite got worse and worse, so he went to a doctor in town, and the secretary told him to wait, so he sat down and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then finally he got to see the doctor, and the doctor put some salve on it? You call that dull?

The Devil's Dictionary -- 1911

 HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

Henry Ford

Ford has a better Idea



"History is more or less bunk."

In the 1940s Ford was sued for patent rights infringement by Harry Ferguson and was forced to pay the largest settlement every paid for stealing a patent.

Misc… Quotes

        The past is always a rebuke to the present. Robert Penn Warren History is the record of encounters between character and circumstance. Donald Creighton History is not history unless it is the truth. Lincoln Abraham History is lies agreed upon.

When a person dies a library of information dies with them.

All law and the enforcement requires a knowledge of history.

Progress in Research is based upon a record of the past. The future ani’t what it used to be.

Subject: Freshmen Class

  Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things. Each year, the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year's incoming freshmen. Here's this year's list: 1 The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued ....

    2. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and did not know he had ever been shot.

3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf war was waged.

4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.

5. There has been only one Pope. They can only really remember one president

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

    6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.

7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The Day After" is a pill to them, not a movie.

8. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up, and Tiananmen Square means nothing to them.

9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

     10. They never had a Polio shot, and likely do not know what it is.

11. Bottle caps have not only always been screw off, but have always been plastic. They have no idea what a pull-top can looks like.

12. Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.

13. The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.

14. They have never owned a record player.

   

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

15. They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.

16. Star Wars look very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.

17. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones?

18. They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably never have actually seen or heard one.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

    19. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.

20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents. (Accurate until recently.) 21. They have always had an answering machine.

22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

     23. They have always had cable.

24. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.

25. They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

26. They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.

27. Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued..

    28. The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.

29. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.

30. Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.

31. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

    32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII, or even the Civil War.

34. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.

35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued....

    36. They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

37. They never heard the terms: "Where's the beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel," or "de plane, de plane!” 38. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.

39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was.

Freshman Class of 1999

continued...

    40. Michael Jackson has always been white.

41. Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.

42. McDonald's never came in styrofoam containers.

43. There has always been MTV.

What does that have to do with us???????

   There are things that I think other people know…. But they don’t!!!

I base my actions on my experience and knowledge… but others sometimes do not understand the background for my decisions.

When we see the big picture we are more likely to understand….But without history I (we) can only see part of reality. The part which we experience first hand.

The question posed at the beginning of this presentation

Is History Important?

YES

 The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded the affairs whereof they write. Michael de Montaigne  It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature. Hawthorne

 In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time: the articulate audible voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream. people whose annals are blank in history books" "Happy are the Thomas Carlyle  People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors. Edmund Burke

 To understand a science it is necessary to know its history. Auguste Isidore Comte  The progress of thought. Alfred North Whitehead  A people’s memory.

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Isaac Peretz