Authored by J.B.Shurk via AmericanThinker.com,
Americans should not fear the past...
I remember the first time I came across a “trigger warning.” I was on a university campus in the ‘90s, attending the first lecture of a new history professor. As I perused her course syllabus, I was impressed with the reading list and organization. Then I spotted an incongruous “warning” to women and African Americans suggesting that they might find some of the material offensive. At first, I thought it was an inappropriate joke. I asked someone about it, and I was informed that “trigger warnings” had become increasingly common in the classrooms of America’s elite boarding schools. I rolled my eyes because I knew right then and there that it would take decades to remedy the problem.
The idea that a history professor would implicitly warn students to be afraid of the past unnerved me. I had always believed very much the opposite — that it was important for young minds to face the past with open eyes. As living members of the human race, we enjoy the great privilege of being able to learn as much from those who came before us as possible. And a person can never learn too much about the past! Whether you take the lessons of history with you to the battlefield, boardroom, small office, or kitchen table, understanding the people, events, and ideas that created today’s world is an invaluable tool for navigating the present and building the future.
