model essay-issue 57

tesolchina_RAUID：3675555

The main benefit of the study of history is to dispel the illusion that people living now are significantly different from people who lived in earlier times.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


I do not agree to this statement about how we can benefit from studying history because people nowadays are indeed very different from those in earlier times in terms of physiology and belief system. In addition, the educational value of studying history should not be ignored.

Due to the fundamental changes in lifestyles, modern people are significantly different from our ancestors in terms of the shape of our bodies and other aspects of our physiology. For one thing, in our industrialized society, with the access to abundant food, we do not need to spend most of our time hunting and gathering for food to survive. With more calorie intake and other nutritous food, we are in general healthier and taller than our ancestors and enjoy longer lifespan as well.  On the other hand, the sendantary lifestyle has also led to more health concerns such as high blood pressure and obesity that were unknown in earlier times.

Our belief systems have also been modernized since Industrial Revolution. In the pre-modern world, the social positions of our ancestors were often defined and fixed at the time they were born. Noblemen were born as noblemen and peasants's children were also peasants.  Our ancestors considered such social order as natural and acceptable. Nowadays, with the introduction of public education, modern society has become increasingly meritocratic. As monarchies were often replaced by democracies, people from humble socioeconomic classes may move upwards socially if they demonstrate their talents that the society need.

As I illustrate clearly above, the difference between us and our ancestors is not an illusion. Therefore, one of the benefits of studying history is to recognize and understand that difference and feel lucky and grateful for the more desirable human conditions. Nevertheless, the statement is also wrong in assuming that the study of history is only a matter of learning facts.

As far as I am concerned, a more important benefit of studying history is to better understand the modern world. As we know, history is not reconstruction of what happened in the past. In fact, it is nearly impossible to do that given the incomplete records of the past and our limited understanding of the world. Instead, history is a story we invented about the past that can help us better understand who we are and what we can do in modern society.  The study of Industrial Revolution, for example, would not give us a complete picture of how people in 18th and 19th century developed new technologies. But a better understanding of how steam engines changed the manufacturing industries will help us predict the impact of the Internet on modern industries.  Likewise, the study of WWII would warn political leaders nowadays about the dire consequences of industrialized warfares.

To reiterate my position, the statement is misleading in that we are indeed physiologically and ideologically different from our ancestors; in addition, the statement unnecessarily narrows the potential benefits of studying history.



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