ISSUE48 - "The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten."
The study of history often gives us some heroes to be remembered. According to the speakers' claim, we should study history in another way which we should place more emphasis on groups of people who made the significant events and trends possible. In my opinion, though we should never forget what groups of people do, we still should make those leaders and heroes deeply honored when we come to the study of history. That is an indirect way to remember groups of people and a lot of evidence prove that those events could not happen without them.
Admittedly, history would not exist only for individuals. The most significant campaigns or innovations often include large groups of people like the industrial innovation and the Civil War. Many people were involved and most of them fought for what they believed in and made their life better. Maybe they are not smart as those famous individuals, but they just did what they can to protect their belief. In this way they are the same with those famous leaders and heroes sacrificing what they have, even life, to make their dreams come true. It is their spirits and beliefs that should be highly respected in history because those are the merits of human beings.
Nevertheless, without the great individuals devoting themselves into the events, our history could not be like what they are at present. Through most of the history, there is always a leader or hero that gave the event power to move forward and finally succeed. For instance, if no one like Chair Mao appeared in history, then there would be no peoples of republic of China today. Perhaps some people would say that the foundation of China was made by the sacrifice of soldiers of the Party. However, without the strategy and policies used by Chair Mao, the people and soldiers would not know the way to make a new China. They had the power to fight for a better life but didn't know how to make it without him. So our history certainly would emphasize him for the foundation of China which is the same reason for people to put President Lincoln a critical place in the event of Civil War.
Besides, we should not regard emphasizing on individuals as a way in which we would forget large groups of people in history. On the contrary, it is an indirect way to remember those people. When studying history, it is not necessary to put all the names of people on the list of history because learning from history how to work out the problem of today is all the study of it about and study of those historical great individuals and their wisdom are the purpose of studying history. And groups of people make the event succeed is just the fact and result of history. Moreover, in fact those great individuals are the representatives of those people like the Chair Mao represent the millions of people who fought for a new China and President Lincoln stands for the people sacrificed in the Civil War.
In sum, when we come to the question what should be emphasized in the study of history, it is unnecessary for us to make all the people’s names appear in the history. Emphasizing on the great individuals are enough for us to study the history whose meaning is to make us learn how to solve the problem at present. It is also another way for us to remember those people in history who we should never forget.