Students have difficult time to memorize historical facts and names. Why do they have to memorize the facts that Roman Empire started in 27BC, or Norman Conquest was in 1066? Is the purpose of learning the history to pass the entrance examination of universities? No, the purpose of it is to see the present event through the history, then to prevent the same mistakes as in the history from happening in the present or the future. Another purpose is people should know their history to have identity.

The causes of the present problems in the world can be found in the past, so the present can not be separated from the past. For example, one of the causes of the present battle between Israel and Palestine was an England wrong foreign policy during the First Word War that England promised Arabian to build their country in East Arab area including Palestine. On the other hand, England promised Jew to support them to build their county in Palestine. Therefore both sides are insisting that the conflicting area belongs to them. What the present people should learn is the England wrong foreign policy in the past and try not to repeat the same thing again.

Another purpose to learn the history is that people can have their identity by learning the history. For example, African Americans in the past did not learn their history because they were slaves of white Americans. When the African American movements happened at the middle of the last century, Malcolm X, one of the leaders of the movements, tried to teach African Americans their history as their identity. Although the history, which Malcolm X taught them, was completely unreal, African Americans were so innocent to believe it, and some of them devoted themselves in an extreme and violent movements. Judging from these facts, I believe people should know properly the culture of their ancestors and birthplaces by learning the history of their country.

In conclusion, learning the past is very important because it helps people to see the present event through the past. In addition, people can have their identity by learning the history of their country.