【八九A2】I48

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TOPIC: 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."

I agree with the speaker that the most significant events and trends in history were made possible by groups of people of our oblivion.
However, it is legitimate to place more emphasis on individuals rather the nameless majority.

It is by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten that the great events and trend were made possible. The information revolution, as a case for this point, is a sound demonstration. The the increasing role of computer are manifest. Societal, computers are used to predict weather, processes checks, scrutinize tax returns, guide missiles, explore outer space, to name a few. Individually, computers revolutionize the office worker's life, that most of the routine tasks are turn to the computer, so does they change the youngster's pastime, from Rubic's Cube and hola hoop to online games on computers. When people rethink about these changes, those names like Mauchly and Eckert who led the invention of ENIAC, or like Bill Gate and Steve Jobs who led the promotion the personal computer loom so large as they masterminded the revolution.

Yet, further reflections on this history trends, through the ebb and flow of the events, it would be hard-press to single out the famous few who has clearly dominated this turbulent event. Had not the technicians who brought the transistor and silicon chips into the computer processors, large, mainframe computers will still be the mainstream. Had not the IT technicians in the research groups developed Microsoft and Mac OS, only Bill and Steve will not make the operating system so sophisticated. Moreover, when we think deeper, every user, the one who operate the mainframe machine, the one who use PC to work, the one who color their lives by the entertainment on computers, contributes to this trend. Without the acceptance by users, the technology progress will be confined in the laboratory, thus the revolution or social trends will be remote.

Although the nameless majority made the significant events and trends, as example mentioned above, it does not necessarily means that emphasis of history study should not be put on the famous few. Compared with the stressing a whole group of people in oblivion, focus on the leading individuals is more feasible and profitable. Turn first to the feasibility. To delve useful traits from the flooding information about the nameless groups of people is to study a myriad of individuals, if not all, which is amount to impossible. Take the census to illustrate. The census which only investigates the basic information about the citizen may need hundreds of thousands of people to complete the task, and it almost requires all citizens be involved. Then think about the study of history, which under most circumstance needy information is unattainable, is it a feasible way of study?
Collecting information of the famous individuals, by comparison is much achievable. The archives of them are relatively complete. Say, the traits of the emperors are recorded much more clearly than the nameless majority.

Turn next to the benefit. The spirit of the famous elite encourages us to persist when facing the similar trouble. To simply put, we are heartened by Stephen Hawking, when facing torturing illness; we are cheered up by Andy Groves who founded IBM from a humble beginning. However, this is not provided by the emphasis on groups of people in study of history. What’s more, comparing with the study which weighs the majority, underlining the famous few, also functions to mirror a specific society and culture. Consider Jane Austen, from whom we roughly picture the women in 18th century’s England. Consider Aristotle, from whom we depict the lives of philosophers of the ancient Greek. In these cases, focus on the famous few well replaces emphasis on the majority in study of history.

To close, most significant history events and trends were made possible by groups of people in oblivion. Yet, study of history is reasonable to put emphasis on the famous few.