To change our future, we should change how we teach history to children (The Guardian)

Yuval Noah Harari · 18 Oct 2022

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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
A direct line runs from the Genesis command to subdue the earth to the Industrial Revolution and today's ecological crisis

Their wordsIt’s possible to trace a direct line from the Genesis decree of “fill the earth and subdue it” to the Industrial Revolution and today’s ecological crisis.
Our reading
History is not the study of the past but the study of how things change

Their wordsAfter all, history is not the study of the past, or simply a list of wars and disasters and dead kings who ruled thousands of years ago. History is the study of how things change.
Our reading
Because people made the world what it is, people can change it

Their wordsPeople made the world what it is – and people can therefore change it.
Our reading
Governments fear history more than other subjects, and many forbid young people from learning parts of it

Their wordsLeaders seldom ban people from learning mathematics or physics. But many governments forbid people – and especially young people – from learning at least certain parts of history.
Our reading
The point of learning history is not to remember the past but to be liberated from it

Their wordsAfter all, the point of learning history is not to remember the past, but to be liberated from it.

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