I am a lover of history. I relished my history classes in high school and have read countless historiographic books. I revel in debates over the moral character of Woodrow Wilson and other arcane topics that inevitably result in long-lasting feuds between friends. My passion has ultimately translated into my major choice: history.

As of late, the enrollment of history majors has dropped at the University of Illinois, and the history department has been hard at work trying to remedy the decline.

Convincing students that history is a worthwhile discipline to study is difficult, due to the negative stigma that it gets from elementary and secondary teaching. Generally, it seems that history at the lower levels is taught in a disengaging way. When I was taught history in lower level classes, I was just told to memorize what the teacher wrote on the board.

I have tried to convince many of my friends to take history classes here. Patrick Pavilonis, freshman in Engineering, told me that “history is nothing more than memorization of names and dates.” In his experience, and many of my failed convertees’ experiences, history was taught as static.

For them, history is removed, far off and dusty. I am here to tell you otherwise.

Mary Hager, freshman in LAS, studies history and is a tutor at a local middle school. Last week, she was assigned to a young seventh grader working on a history class project.

Mary wanted her student conceptualize the issues present in slavery. She posed a simple question that she thought would allow her student to picture what it was like to be a slave at the time: “What shocks you most about this passage?”

Instead of a passionate response, the student replied with, “I don’t really think this is really shocking anymore because I’ve been learning about this my whole life.”

Like many college students, he had been learning about slavery over and over again in his various elementary school classes. This turns slavery — and other historical concepts — into topics we just have to memorize for tests. Instead of recognizing the abject horror that was slavery, Mary’s student just thought of the boring, textbook definition of slavery. He allowed someone’s version the past to become his own.

Instead of one objective view of history, like his of slavery, delving more into history now can make history become subjective and personal and can spark new interests in students.

I love history because it is a constantly evolving argument. When history is taught as an unchangeable event that happened in the past, it loses its appeal. Instead, with support and evidence, if you can define and defend your interpretation of events, it becomes real. This makes history an argument; you get to make your own version of the past.

People who have had dull, monotone teachers who mark points off of tests for getting the dates off by a year or who force information about all eighteen French King Louis down their students’ throats have good reasons to dislike history.

But that’s not what history really is.

History pays homage to our past. Scrutinizing the suffering of our past makes the present far easier to bear. History is the ultimate pursuit of empathy, forcing you to understand what someone a world apart from you once experienced.

History is the foundation for our present. The more you understand what has happened, the easier it is to understand what is happening. Students of history study the connections between the events, not just the events themselves. The deeper you immerse yourself, the more defined the tracks that guide our society become.

Rather than worrying about the uncertainty ahead, try a hand at looking back.

Being a student of history leaves you well-prepared for life after college. It improves your writing, analytical thinking and creates a well rounded individual (plus, you have lots of fun facts for cocktail parties).

Bearing that in mind, I raise a challenge to you, dear reader. If you are one of the many who had a bad experience with history, take a risk. The University has one of the highest ranked history departments in the country. Our professors know their stuff and teach history as an argument.

Don’t take an intro level history class solely because it fulfills a humanities requirement. It could be a major opportunity to experience the greatness of history I’ve outlined above. Look through the course list.

It might be a little more work, but I promise you will love it.

Thomas is a freshman in LAS.

[email protected]