Can the subject of history be seen as a huge turn off for students and the general public? After reading the works of Roy Rosenzweig, David Thelen, Sam Wineburg, and Jared Diamond it has been seen that students and the general public view history as a subject that consists of many hurdles to engage with the topic. Throughout the works of these authors, they all demonstrate how difficult it is for students and the general public to engage with the subject of history by using strategies. The strategies that were used to exemplify how history is seen as a huge turn off were surveys asking fellow Americans about their connection with the past and think aloud interviews with assumed non experts and experts. Seen throughout the units we’ve studied, …show more content…
First off, when looking at historiography as another hurdle to change people’s engagement with history it is important to look at Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. The author focuses on the findings of Easter Island and to explain what he believed actually happened there. Throughout the book, Diamond refers back to his own assumption of the island and lacks much background information. For the majority of the chapter, Diamond stated his opinion regarding what he believed had happened on Easter Island but along those lines he also would make those statements seem as if they were assumptions. Connecting it back to why this book may have an influence on whether the general public and students may shy away from the subject of history because Diamond consistently adds graphs and charts which makes the accessibility very challenging. Accessibility is important to look at because those outside the field of history may not be able to connect to the topic due to the …show more content…
In Historical Thinking, the author titles a chapter “On The Reading of Historical Texts,” in which he focuses on the habits of those who have a historical background, the assumed expert and one who has little historical background, the assumed non-expert. In the beginning of chapter four, Wineburg states the purpose of the think aloud, which was, “...to recreate for the reader the unfolding of contextualized thinking.” This quote connects to the idea of how experts and non-experts differ because for example, experts are seen as those who have a strong historical background and can think critically about the subject or document. After reading this chapter, it was clear to recognize that many people such as the general public and students tend to fall in the assumed non-expert category. For instance, in the think aloud interviews that I conducted, my non-expert demonstrated many traits that showed how he was disengaged with the topic. I remember while doing the interview, John, a non-expert had a very hard time grasping an understanding of the text and the meaning behind the document. He continuously read the text west to east while looking at the text in a presentist lens. The idea of presentism plays a huge role in why