Last year, as a freshman, I found myself feeling bombarded by the curriculum used in my general education classes.
To me, it seemed like we talked about slavery and Ole Miss’ dark past with the riots that occurred during the integration of James Meredith once or twice every week, and most of the time this class had nothing to do with history.
My question is: Can we talk about our past too much? I know it has been said that learning about our past will help us not to repeat it, but when is it too much?
As a part of the “new generation,” I find myself actively involved in the #BlackLivesMatter movement and trying to evolve the future into something I am proud of. The truth is that sometimes it is hard because we are constantly attacked with arguments about “history” and “heritage.”
We, as students, come to college to expand our horizons, but talking about the same things over, and over and over again will not teach us anything new. My point is, we know the history. We have learned it over and over in grade school, so why must we still focus on it now?
Perhaps it is because they want us to see even deeper into the past, or maybe they’re trying to make up for what happened here in 1962 by excessively educating the new generations.
Expanding the curriculum and exploring new problems in history and using them as a reference point can truly educate us.
We know the incidents of slavery and segregation in the U.S., but what most of us don’t know is if the same thing is currently occurring in other countries. Teach us about that. We are here to learn new things, not repeat everything we learned in high school.
I want to know more about the world, and is it not my professors’ job to teach me that?
Mikala Turner is a journalism major from Bruce.
