This semester has been going really well so far, so well that I’m actually amazed. At the beginning it seemed like I’d be overwhelmed, and I am busy and basically have no time, but it’s been really fun. One class I haven’t touched on much is my History of Peace class, which has been blowing me away.

638px-sexton_25-pounder_self-propelled_gun_howitzer.jpgGiven that I’m a History major and a graduating senior, I’ve taken quite a few history classes, and *thought* that I had a pretty good sense of what’s been going on in the world for the past several thousand years. This class, though, has made me rethink everything, and at this point it feels like I need to start over from scratch.

The accepted view people have of history, and the way that the vast majority of the classes are taught, is by viewing the wars/major conflicts as the pivotal points in time, and the periods between as explanations for them. Look at the table of contents of most History textbooks and you’ll see this illustrated very plainly; there will be twice as many pages dedicated to World War II than there will be to the Great Depression or the 1920’s. And after you go back to anything before the Civil War, good luck finding more than a paragraph describing anything that isn’t a war.

According to this class, and to the professor, Dr. Huang, this paradigm is completely backwards. As people say, if we don’t learn history, we’re doomed to repeat the past, but what does that really mean when the history we’re taught is focused primarily on conflict? Are we learning how to better prevent conflict and prolong prosperity, or are we learning how to prevail in conflict and better fight wars? Dr. Huang’s class is based on the idea that it’s more important to discover the “whys” of peacetime rather than the “whys” of conflict, because ultimately, we as a society should be much more interested in enriching lives and culture rather than how to better kill other people. So far, it’s rocking my world.