The case for critical thinking and studying history in the schools, from Honolulu, 1845

The Friend was originally published in 19th century Hawaii by Rev. Samuel C. Damon, a missionary chaplain with the American Seaman's Friend Society and chaplain of the Seaman's Bethel in Honolulu.

The following article, submitted by "S.L.E." was published in the July, 1845 edition of Damon's monthly newspaper.

We can glean from this the realization that matters concerning the study and enjoyment of history as well as the role of critical thinking in that endeavor dates back far earlier than many of us in the 21st century thought:

"One reason why young people so often think study a hardship and education irksome arises from the manner in which their studies are conducted.

"A certain portion of geography, of history, of languages, and various other subjects is read or committed to memory, without any connection between them being maintained. With regard to history, for instance, a history of Greece or of Rome, or of England is put into the hands of young persons, and when they have gone through its pages, containing a record of certain events that transpire at certain periods, and of certain characters instrumental in producing those events; and if the pupil can remember in what particular period any great battle was fought, or at what time such a king reigned, or such a republic flourished they are considered to be acquainted with history. They know, however, no more of the moral characteristics of the several nations which have passed under review, or their local peculiarities, of their progressive improvements, of the influential bearing which one country has upon another than they know of the conformation of their own minds, and think no more of the cause and design of the complicated, yet wise arrangement of the earth's affairs, than they think of the volitions which bring their own muscles into play, their limbs into action.

"But let history be viewed, not as a mere chronological register of certain facts and occurrences, a mere record of battles lost or won, but as a science enriched with treasures from almost every source, as a connecting link between the various subjects of contemplation which ought to occupy the thoughts of intelligent beings, and it will at once become a most interesting study.

"The history of every nation comprehends, necessarily, its progress from barbarism to civilization; its internal changes, the causes producing those changes, and the various characters by which they are promoted; the rise and advancement of its language, literature, laws, arts, and sciences; the mechanism of its legislative, political and ecclesiastical system, together with the recognition and tracing out of that overruling power whose wisdom guides and controls all the affairs of the kingdom of the world. Hence, if it be true that national character is influenced, in some degree at least, by the climate, natural history, and geography become necessary, and voyages and travels useful auxiliaries to the student of history.

"Biography is one of the most interesting and instructive branches, for what are the lives of public men, but the history of the times in which they flourished, the histories of the respective national transactions in which they bore a part? Intellectual and moral philosophy, which appears to me to be the history of the formation of character, is an admirable preparation for rightly studying biography and history which furnish us the the practical development of character in conduct. If it be also true that the history of a nation will depend much on its institutions, whether legislative, civil or ecclesiastical then its laws, its politics, its church history, and all its moral and religious influences should be examined. If, too, the nation derive any of its glory from mind and mind's achievements, then let its literature, its learned men, its arts, and its artists, its sciences and its philosophy share the attention they deserve. Blot from England's annals the names of Milton, Shakespeare, Bacon, and Newton, and the glory will be departed from the times they walked the earth.

"History, therefore, so far from being an uninteresting study, although the term be simple, and the general manner of attending to it be almost as unmeaning as the unconnected lenses of a telescope appear to a superficial observer will yet when viewed in all its branches and relations, present to the mind objects of great and universal interest."