No future without history

The writer is founding partner of Mazari-Hazir Advocates & Legal Consultants.

There seems to be a trend that has concretized in the minds of students, parents and educational institutions towards subjects that safeguard future employability.

As a result, our conception of education has become warped, where we see education as merely a means to an end – that end being getting a job. Education is, however, much more than that. Unfortunately though because of this trend, we are seeing the youth of our country unable to transform into agents of change.

Philosopher George Santayana coined the now world famous and oft repeated observation: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. World leaders and historians have espoused variations of this phrase. In fact, we have even been reminded of this lesson through cinema.

Yet, unfortunately, in Pakistan, there seems to be a general decline in the desire to learn about not just our own history, but also world history. This, in part, accounts for the confusion and rootlessness of our youth coming out of even the most well-reputed private educational institutions.

Without a firm understanding over both Pakistan and world history, our youth will find it very difficult to comprehend local and global politics today. Moreover, they will find it challenging to partake in political and social discourses,in a meaningful way, impeding their ability to shape future discourses of this nature. Inevitably, this will have an adverse impact on the exercise of their civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights. As a result, our youth will be condemned to repeat the mistakes of generations prior, preventing Pakistan from developing to its fullest potential.

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that students have a firm grounding in history to enable them to distinguish between truth and fiction, especially with disinformation and misinformation being circulated rapidly through the use of social media. While many renowned educational institutions around the world actively encourage the idea of a well-rounded education, encouraging a mix of the sciences and humanities, Pakistani students are not being given the same support.

There seems to be a growing perception among students and parents in Pakistan that history is an “irrelevant” or “useless” subject, and this sadly is now being mirrored in the attitudes of many educational institutions that are attempting to scrap history as a subject entirely. Many parents feel their children’s interest in history has no pay-off in the practical world because of which they have been discouraging their children from pursuing social sciences. This understanding is deeply flawed and problematic for many reasons.

First, these schools are nurturing Pakistan’s future leaders. That is not to say that schools are there simply to produce politicians and policymakers but that the education provided during our formative years is key to how our mind and personalities are shaped. Without understanding where we came from and the chain of events that brought us here today, we cannot be informed citizens making informed choices for our society or ourselves.

For example, we celebrate various days and commemorate bravery during conflicts and wars every year in Pakistan. However, hardly any of our youth are taught about the reality of war – lives lost, territory and gained or lost etc.

Our youth celebrate days of victory every year despite the fact that most major independent authors and historians may have concluded that those days mean otherwise. If our youth are going to be the decision-makers of tomorrow, should they not be taught about the mistakes Pakistan, as a state, has made in the past to ensure we do not repeat those same mistakes again?

Further, because history prepares us for the present, when we neglect to educate ourselves on the same, our ability to address the challenges of the present and future is restricted. For instance, while students may be able to discuss and debate Pakistan’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, their understanding and input would be far more useful if they understood pandemics throughout human history, including the 1918 Spanish flu. We would have more informed answers and innovative solutions when we ask ourselves: are we headed in the same direction?

The same is true with respect to understanding present-day conflicts, many of which have their roots in colonial and imperialist history, for instance the Kashmir conflict. In order to answer what impact these conflicts have had on the world population, it is critical for us to be able to compare and distinguish past conflicts, including the two World Wars and the cold war, from the conflicts we face today.

Second, the value of history, as an academic discipline, with respect to employability has also been miscalculated. Many parents feel that their children will have no use for this subject if they choose to be lawyers, economists, journalists or even join the civil service. There could be nothing further from the truth.

Speaking from my own personal experience, my O and A level history teachers educated me for life in ways I didn’t even realize at the time. For example, in A level history, we received lectures on European history, which helped me understand much later on during my International Law degree, the structure of the European Union and the shared culture therein.

The same is true for when, during our O levels, we were taught about US interventions in Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua and several other countries, which assist those of us who have knowledge on these issue-areas in understanding US foreign policy even today. Without understanding the roots of US interventionism in the 19th century, what we understand of the conflicts in Iraq and Libya in recent times will be severely limited. Similarly, in order to understand the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement today, we need to be aware of the US’s history of slavery, exploitation and the manner in which the discrimination of coloured persons has been systematically institutionalized.

Third, there is a basic level of humanity and hope the subject of history attempts to ingrain into those who choose this path. Apart from learning about our shared origins, we are also taught important lessons about oppression and tyranny. For example, if we go back in time to the Cultural Revolution in China to try and understand how academics were targeted and the reasons for this, we will be able to better understand Turkey’s crackdown against academics today, or the clampdown against both students and teachers in India and Pakistan today.

At present, we in Pakistan are witnessing an alarming crackdown against dissent and critical thought, which makes it even more crucial for parents and educational institutions to encourage this critical thought in our future generations. That is the only hope for Pakistan.

The father of existentialism, Soren Aabye Kierkegaard very rightly observed: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Without understanding where we come from, we cannot begin to learn and grow, let alone prosper.

Email: imaanmazarihazir@ gmail.com