Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Robert Gates is among the most trusted men in America today. The liberal-friendly blogosphere loves citing him as an authoritative critic of the GOP primary candidates and would leap at the slightest hint he was criticizing President George W. Bush. While visiting William & Mary last week, however, he sat for an interview that got very little play. In it, he criticizes the media and Washington for not knowing enough history.
The full video is below, beginning around 11:40. Gates is asked for his views on the debate between soft and hard majors in universities. He replies: "Our civilization is not a civilization because of our technology. It is because of languages and the arts, knowledge of our history -- and, frankly, I think there are way too many in Washington, in the media, and elsewhere, who don't know anything about history, and it's a danger."
He elaborates: "Part of the reason I knew it was time to leave was that I ended up having to give a history lesson, it seemed like, every time we were in the Situation Room. You know, 'This happened this way, and if you did it this way, and so on and so forth.' I just think that you have to have both the hard sciences and the soft sciences, and frankly the cutbacks on the soft sciences, I think, will have an impact on the quality of life for people."
Are we surprised the media hasn't highlighted their favorite statesman's critique of the chattering classes?
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Mar '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Good laws and policies are based on experience. A law should never be passed that is not based on history yet so many are. So what he is saying is that not understanding the history of man leads to stupid and dangerous policies. So any moron who knows history would get why it was a dumb idea or would not work.
The problem is Gates is assuming that Washington insiders actually believe human beings don't change therefore history (aka others experiences) teach us a lot. To many progressives believe humans are evolving ("progressing") therefore human nature is different than it was a hundred or a few hundred year ago. Or they believe intelligence and being smart is more important than experience and they are smarter than anyone else. So why would knowing history let alone really understanding its lessons be important if you think there is a major paradigm shift in civilization on underlying motivations.
Jul '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Brian Clendinen: Good laws and policies are based on experience. A law should never be passed that is not based on history yet so many are. So what he is saying is that not understanding the history of man leads to stupid and dangerous policies. So any moron who knows history would get why it was a dumb idea or would not work.
The problem is Gates is assuming that Washington insiders actually believe human beings don't change therefore history (aka others experiences) teach us a lot. To many progressives believe humans are evolving ("progressing") therefore human nature is different than it was a hundred or a few hundred year ago. Or they believe intelligence and being smart is more important than experience and they are smarter than anyone else. So why would knowing history let alone really understanding its lessons be important if you think there is a major paradigm shift in civilization on underlying motivations. · 44 minutes ago
Well put sir.
Nov '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Not the whole seventeen minutes, but the few minutes around the section you had quoted. What makes you ask that?
Yes, I do understand that much of Gates' remarks had to do with the value of a liberal education, and the discussion here seems to have focused on that, but my comment was directed specifically to Gates' immodest habit (i.e., repeated in this clip and elsewhere) to posture himself as "above it all" and superior to the people he served. For example, consider his statement in this clip (at around 11:00) that he was "not just at war in Iraq and Afghanistan" but was "at war with the congress, . . . with White House, . . . at war with other agencies, . . . at war with the Department of Defense, in terms of turning this thing around," suggesting that but for his valiant efforts, all would have been lost. Don't you see the false modesty that Gates deploys so deftly to elevate himself and denigrate others? The coincidence that in this instance he seems to be skewering the Obama administration is irrelevant to my point.
Aug '10
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Brian, Do you suggest that these new apparatchiks studied structure, control theory ( law ) to the exclusion of history ? Plausible and frightening. They are running headlong into their own history.
Edited on February 9, 2012 at 2:25amFeb '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
Seems to me a thorough grounding in history would be a very valuable asset for someone in the CIA or the DOD. Not only would it help illuminate ethnic and tribal grudges that now bloom into arms-fueled violence, but it helps offer perspective in a myopic, ADD culture that contends that Right Now simultaneously matters most and never happened before.
Apr '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
ctlaw
The bigger controversy should be between rigorous and non-rigorous educational programs.
Exactly. The problem with what we call a liberal arts degree is two-fold: 1) the curriculum is politicized; and 2) the curriculum is sloppy. The second problem is bigger. I majored in English at a large public university in the 1990s, then went on to medical school. I regret the English major. I think I was cheated--or I cheated myself--out of a true liberal education. It was a sloppy, haphazard, and easy curriculum. Great for racking up A's to pad the GPA, but probably a far cry from taking a class from Mark van Doren in the '40s. A few isolated classes were exceptions, and I had a great history professor (who actually taught in the Classics department.) I would dissuade my kids from majors in the soft subjects not because they're not worthy subjects, but because they're too easy as currently taught. (The lack of job opportunities with history and English degrees is a secondary consideration). I suspect things are different at places like Hillsdale and St. John's College.
May '11
Re: Gates: I Ended Up Giving History Lessons in the Situation Room
We should not put all the blame on colleges. Actually, the real blame belongs to public school systems.
The foundation of a broad, diverse education should have come before college.