History Qualifications?

[TinCow]

I'll also give a thumbs up to Historiography, which was also a requirement for a History degree at my school. It was pretty much the only class which taught me something that I was unlikely to pick up eventually through reading history books. It was pretty boring when I was taking it, but far more practical in the long-run than any other single course.

[CountArach]

I'll also give a thumbs up to Historiography, which was also a requirement for a History degree at my school. It was pretty much the only class which taught me something that I was unlikely to pick up eventually through reading history books. It was pretty boring when I was taking it, but far more practical in the long-run than any other single course.

I was really lucky that my High School taught a basic class in historiography at an extension level and I know that some of the senior units at University offer a much more detailed thing.

[KarlXII]

Haha, yeah. Our history really isn't even remotely interesting

"Uh, we fought Turks in the Great War!"

I believe only Greeks would appreciate that.

[Furious Mental]

On the whole I am glad our history is so boring. Countries with interesting history behind them also tend to be hung up on stupid vendettas or constantly harping on about some battle that no one else cares about, Greece and Turkey being a perfect example. But it does make history classes a drag.

* Admittedly we do harp on about Gallipoli, but not because we hate Turks.

[Wasp]

Apart from tidbits I picked up in high school, and the philosophy history I'm pretty comfy with, I'm like the most an enthousiastic amateur who gains knowledge via encyclopedia, books, video games and the internet.

[YellowMelon]

Canada has an equally boring history...though I do love the Boer War ;)

[Seamus Fermanagh]

No formal qualifications in history whatsoever.

Lots of amateur history reading effort beginning at age 6 -- my parents claimed that I actually cried upon learning that George Washington was dead.

Always a military history buff, current history channel junkie.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Canada has an equally boring history...though I do love the Boer War ;)

Have you been to the new Canadian War Museum? Let me tell you, it's completely worth it.

[YellowMelon]

Ok, its modern history isn't too bad, but being beaten over the head with colonial history in school left a bad taste in my mouth. But no, I don't get out to Ottawa much so I haven't seen it, though my friend was a tour guide there and he said it is quite good. I hear the museum of civilization is pretty fantastic as well.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

You live in Ontario and you've never been to the Museum of Civilization?

It's great as well, but the new war museum is excellent. It's massive - I was in there for a good five or six hours, and could've stayed much longer. There's big room near the base full of old tanks, artillery, APCs, and more. I especially liked the medals - that's almost a little hobby for me.

The battlefield models are excellent, and the sections on the War of 1812, the Boer War, and WWII are expanded significantly. There are many more artifacts on display than in the old museum, and the Cold War section has some very nice touches, such as an antique teddy bear with Trudeau's face. I've been to the old one twice and the new one once, and they don't even compare.

I'd make the trip to Ottawa for the museums alone, and indeed I have in the past.

[YellowMelon]

Ontario is a big place

[Incongruous]

Well hope you enjoy it.
History here was crud, so I finished first year papers and am now taking Classical
History. I bet Sydney will be wat better than where I am. So you should have a really good library.
I expect Ancient History is far more wider than Classical history, or is just the Greeks and Romans?

I would also avis Greek lit, I have found it really fun and helpful. If you did Antigone and Oedipus Rex and the Aeneaid at highscholl (like me) it should also be easy.

I do feel taking History gives you a chance to better understanding than those whom don't, primarily because of you're lecturers, thes guys know loads and their knowldge is wide open to you and far greater than most books you can get at a normal shop. I have spent many hours talking to my lecturers, its very good

Goodluck

Oh but just as an aside, are you majoring in anything else, uh, more practical?
I would advise it.
I taking IR. That coupled with classics I have been told by the head of the Washington School of Political science, is a good mix. Look it up.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Ontario is a big place

I know - lived in rural Ontario for a long time.

[CountArach]

Well hope you enjoy it.
History here was crud, so I finished first year papers and am now taking Classical
History. I bet Sydney will be wat better than where I am. So you should have a really good library.
I expect Ancient History is far more wider than Classical history, or is just the Greeks and Romans?

I would also avis Greek lit, I have found it really fun and helpful. If you did Antigone and Oedipus Rex and the Aeneaid at highscholl (like me) it should also be easy.

I do feel taking History gives you a chance to better understanding than those whom don't, primarily because of you're lecturers, thes guys know loads and their knowldge is wide open to you and far greater than most books you can get at a normal shop. I have spent many hours talking to my lecturers, its very good

Goodluck

Oh but just as an aside, are you majoring in anything else, uh, more practical?
I would advise it.
I taking IR. That coupled with classics I have been told by the head of the Washington School of Political science, is a good mix. Look it up.

On the library - yes there is an incredible library. I think they said it is 14 rolled into 1.

Ancient History is primarily focused on the Greeks and Romans, through the entire scope. However, there are also Archaeology courses that focus on the East and the New World.

I'm not doing Greek Literature because I don't want to learn a new alphabet that I am never going to have a use for. Instead I am taking Latin, which seems much easier to learn and achieves the same end (Allowing me to do post graduate work).

So yeah, no other majors, just Ancient History and Latin. I don't want to do anything else that could be considered practical. I have always and will always do what I want - not what will get me money. In the end I may have to go into teaching, but I don't know, I'll see what happens.

[Adrian II]

What's there to study...? I mean, it aint like there's much of anything to study...

The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes for instance, brother Kamikhaan. I read it after I stumbled upon his equally great book on Barcelona.

MA here, by the way. Modern History.

[seireikhaan]

The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes for instance, brother Kamikhaan. I read it after I stumbled upon his equally great book on Barcelona.

MA here, by the way. Modern History.

I shall see if I can find it. What specifically does it cover?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My previous comment was somewhat in jest, since the Aussies didn't seem to appreciate it much either.

[Adrian II]

I shall see if I can find it. What specifically does it cover?

Early Australian history. Convicts. Aboriginals. Bushrangers. It is an epic story, really: a few hundred thousand people who managed to turn a prison camp into a nation in one or two generations. Hughes disclosed lots of sources that were never used before because, well, precisely because people thought Australian history was crap. Which it isn't. And because they had trouble facing the truth about their origins, the 'Stain' of convict ancestry, brutal treatment of the natives and such. Hughes has a love-hate relationship with his native Oz, he feels at home in its easy-going culture, yet he has also said that Australia could be 'towed out to sea and sunk for all I care'.

[Furious Mental]

It is crap when you have to study it for a decade. It is also morally indecisive because when you're in primary school it's presented to you as the conquest of a harsh land by heroic settlers, then when you're an adolescent they add the shameful addendum. I.e.

"Oh yeah by the way, we didn't mention it earlier but those heroic settlers you learned about in primary school killed loads of black people and took their land."

[Adrian II]

It is crap when you have to study it for a decade. It is also morally indecisive because when you're in primary school it's presented to you as the conquest of a harsh land by heroic settlers, then when you're an adolescent they add the shameful addendum. I.e.

"Oh yeah by the way, we didn't mention it earlier but those heroic settlers you learned about in primary school killed loads of black people and took their land."

I understand what you mean, brother Furious Mental. The glorification of conquest and the suppression of essential elements such as the 'Stain' must be what made 'official' Australian history so tedious, even downright offensive to honest minds. It bored the crap out of brother Hughes as well. Hence his effort to get to the real story, which to my highly limited knowledge he did. What I was trying to say is that there is a real story behind the whitewash, and a herioc tale to boot, considering the limited capacity of humans to do any good at all under similr circumstances. It was after all an involuntary conquest of nature as well as of native lands by a few hundred thousand people, many of whom were murderers, thieves, beggars, orphans, prostitutes, etcetera before they set foot on that shore. In a sense they reclaimed civilisation for themselves. That was their true conquest and that's what makes it a beautiful story. Without romanticising it, because its beauty is in its truth, in the harsh realities that it deals with, rather than the pretty picture into which it was transformed later on.

[ShadesWolf]

Currently doing a history degree

So I dont have much spare time to visit this wonderful place anymore.

[Brave]

Does having a degree in history make you more knowledgeable? I don't think so. What a degree will do is hone your research skills and develop higher ordered thinking. If you take any historiography (in my school is was a requirement), you will learn how to read history with a critical eye. Some of the most knowledgeable people I have met online do not have qualifications in history, or any other field for that matter. History is so broad that you can't learn it all, so amateurs can specialize in certain areas and become more knowledgeable than people with degrees (even PhDs). I know several people who have graduated from my program that know absolutely nothing about history, but rather their capacity for alcohol consumption!

I do critical thinking and absorb as much history as possible through the tv (History Channel) and literature, what does that make me?

[Adrian II]

I do critical thinking and absorb as much history as possible through the tv (History Channel) and literature, what does that make me?

It makes you a Brave amateur, brother.

[Furious Mental]

I had never really thought about it that way Adrian II. I like that perspective.

[Adrian II]

I had never really thought about it that way Adrian II. I like that perspective.

Speaking of which: doesn't Australia have it's own John Steinbeck?

I mean, I just realised I don't know Jack Split about Oz literature...

[aimlesswanderer]

From what I did at school, Australian history is rather boring. Did ancient history at school, and now read some books on ancient and medieval warfare, ancient history, Chinese and Japanese history.

The documentaries shown on FTA TV are sometimes interesting, but the movies or TV "based on historical events" are usually wildly inaccurate. I usually find myself thinking that the arms and battle tactics have only a vague if any relation to fact.

I generally like history, but I dunno about doing a whole degree on it, not sure I'd be able to finish it.

I know more history than most people, but unfortunately that doesn't really say all that much most of the time. People's ignorance of just about anything to do with major world events (or countries) is worrying. No wonder we continue to fail to learn from history!

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

Im taking History at GCSE??? Dont read much, just sticks in my head better than numbers

[macsen rufus]

When I got half-way through secondary school, my programme was loaded with sciences and languages, and I could only find room for either geography OR history. As my geography scores had been mostly 10/10 til then and I was bored with lists of kings, I dropped history. I didn't really give it a second thought until I discovered TW, and then started reading voraciously having built up an unexpected thirst for knowledge over the intervening 30 years

[King Jan III Sobieski]

B.A. in History, M.A. in Liberal Studies (with a concentration in History/Public History), plus multiple conference and random lecture attendances....and I'm still a meaningless clerical worker.

[Veho Nex]

I grew up in a house were my bed time stories were of hamburger hill or the run up iwo jima or Riech the first step towards conquest. Man good times...

[Decker]

Alright, after thinking a little more about what I'd like to do here it is.
I plan on transferring from my junior college (or JC) to San Jose State University in California. I hope to study to be an archivist while minoring in Military History. Then if possible, go to grad school or whatever the next step is in England and hopefully find a job at one of their museums or whatever else. It's tentative but that's the general outline.