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The Light Bulb Comes On
I hated studying history. In my high school years, history was pure drudgery. I still remember my teacher: a little man, balding, with black framed glasses. The problem wasn’t the difficulty of his classes; it was his approach to history. Every few days we were assigned a section to read in the history book and we were to answer the list of five to eight questions at the end of the chapter. Yawn. We were expected to know events and dates; we didn’t need to know much more than that.
So when it was time to go to Cal. State Long Beach (it wasn’t Cal. State University yet), I was excited to know that we’d have plenty of choices about the classes we could take. Then I learned about the basic requirements. Which included Western Civilization. Not again, I thought. But I figured I’d get through the pain of boredom early so I took the class in my first semester. Little did I know that it would change my life.
I was a bit encouraged when I met the professor. Her name was Donna Boutelle, and her primary area of study was the Middle Ages. She was a small woman, shorter than I am, and her face was prematurely wrinkled, giving her an impish quality. That impression was only strengthened by the twinkle in her eye, her hearty, raspy laugh, and her dry sense of humor. My memory of her would always be of her holding her thin cigar (in a holder, of course) in the corner of her mouth. She looked like a miniature gangster. And I loved learning with her.
I was beginning to actually enjoy my history studies, learning first about the Greeks; we focused mainly on essays written by the scholars of those times. We had our first quiz, and although I was a bit perplexed by having an essay to complete, I forged ahead. When the quiz was returned to me, I was apoplectic and humiliated. I’d received a “D”! How was that possible?! I had always been an A’s and B’s student. When I did almost as poorly on the second quiz, I knew I had to do something. So I met with Dr. Boutelle during her office hours.
She patiently and kindly explained that history was not just information, but it was about the people, the culture and the norms. We didn’t just read the essays of people of the time to know what happened, but also to understand what they were saying about life and attitudes and beliefs. Her response to me sounded reasonable. But I had no idea what she was talking about. I left her office feeling a combination of relief and perplexity.
So I patiently pored over the essays of these famous writers of Greek history. What were they telling me? How could I understand what they were saying about themselves? About the peoples they lived with? About the enemies they fought?
As I struggled to pierce what seemed like an impenetrable wall of confusion, the proverbial light bulb came on. Was I beginning to understand what was underneath the writings of these historians? I traveled mentally through years of human and cultural development, wars, and traditions, and I realized I might actually be realizing the depth of their teachings. I must have dashed to meet my professor to share what I was learning, desperately and excitedly hoping that I was finally seeing through my own misperceptions and limitations about history. I don’t remember for certain, but when I told her what I’d discovered, she must have thrown back her head and laughed raucously at my delight.
I finally understood.
History and Dr. Boutelle changed my life in so many ways. I learned not only to see through the mundane and obvious in my life in general, but I have spent the last 40 years delighting in the histories of many civilizations.
What a gift she gave me.
What have been your moments when the proverbial light bulb came on?
Published in Group Writing
The way they teach history in high school is a crime.
Fortunately, I had a grandfather who loved history and was constantly reading it and enjoyed talking about it to me since I showed an interest. I always took history as how it shaped me, my family, my community, and my country and it always made me understand why things were the way they were. And also to understand there were remarkable people who shaped events – for good or for bad.
One of my pet peeves is presentism: looking through the eyes of today and casting moral judgments of those in the past. It is rampant and it is illogical.
You were so lucky! To have the opportunity to learn history with your grandfather must have been such a delight. I’ve not heard of the word “presentism,” but it drives me crazy too! It is a naïve and foolish way to interpret history and the world. Thanks, @hangon.
In regard to history, it was when I started listening to The Great Courses. The first course I listened to was The History of the English Language. I was immediately hooked, and have listened to dozens of history courses (as well as other topics) since.
The reason these courses are so good is the professors make it interesting. In all the courses I’ve listened to, there was only one lesson in one literature course that was subpar, and it was because the professor got off on a tangent and never came back to the main topic.
Sebastian Haffner, whose memoir of life in Germany between the wars is IMO essential reading:
If you read ordinary history books…you get the impression that no more than a few dozen people have are involved…According to this view, the history of the present decade is a kind of chess game between Hitler, Mussolini, Chiang Kai-Shek, Roosevelt, Chamberlain, Daladier, and a number of other men whose names are on everybody’s lips. We anonymous others seem at best to be the objects of history, pawns in the chess game…It may seem a paradox, but it is none the less a simple truth, to say that on the contrary, the decisive historical events take place among us, the anonymous masses. The most powerful dictators, ministers, and generals are powerless against the simultaneous mass decisions taken individually and almost unconsciously by the population at large…Decisions that influence the course of history arise out of the individual experiences of thousands or millions of individuals.
This is not an airy abstract construction, but indisputably real and tangible. For instance, what was it that caused Germany to lose the Great War of 1918 and the Allies to win it? An advance in the leadership of Foch and Haig, or a decline in Ludendorff’s? Not at all. It was the fact that the ‘German soldier’, that is the majority of an anonymous mass of ten million individuals, was no longer willing, as he had been until then, to risk his life in any attack, or hold his position to the last man.
Indeed, behind these questions are some very peculiar, very revealing, mental processes and experiences, whose historical significance cannot yet be fully gauged These are what I want to write about. You cannot get to grips with them if you do not track them down to the place where they happen: the private lives, emotions, and thoughts of individual Germans…There, in private, the fight is taking place in Germany. You will search for it in vain in the political landscape, even with the most powerful telescope. Today the political struggle is expressed by the choice of what a person eats and drinks, whom he loves, what he does in his spare time, whose company he seeks, whether he smiles or frowns, what pictures he hangs on his walls. It is here that the battles of the next world war are being decided in advance. That may sound grotesque, but it is the truth.
Much truth to this, I think, although it certainly should not imply that social history should displace political and military history; rather, that it should be considered as an essential part of historical study.
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/11181.html
My favorite class of all time was my high school AP American History Class. Mr. Clarence Maynor challenged us like no other instructor I have ever had in high school or university. He kept us on our toes during recitation by assigning us all numbers. He might call on us by name or number, while looking at us, or looking out the window. We went pretty deep into the issues for a bunch of eleventh-graders.
My wife purchased the Bible and math courses and also found them valuable. One can find nits in them, especially in the Bible course, as much is subject to interpretation and which translation is being used. But overall a great introduction to the subjects.
Profound observations, @davidfoster. I’d not thought of history in that way. Much to contemplate there. Thank you.
He sounds like he was a clever man who knew how to keep his students engaged and on their toes, @joelb! Those kinds of teachers can be rare. Thanks.
It’s good to find someone who helps open our eyes.
This conversation is an entry in our Group Writing Series under July’s theme of Understanding. If you have thoughts related to any definition of the word “understanding,” perhaps you would like the share them? Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits. Understood?
When you were getting Ds, what were the other students getting? Was this everyone’s problem or just yours?
I was so self-centered back then, I have no idea what the other students were getting! I do know that later on Dr. Boutelle had me help her grade essays (after I knew what the heck to look for and after much coaching by her) and some were good, some not so good. I was pretty self-conscious, too, and didn’t know other students in the class yet, so we didn’t commiserate. I do know that like me, her other students enjoyed her, so I suspect others may have been perplexed, too, and I just wasn’t aware of it. Sure would have been interesting to know, though, @israelp!
For this, Gd invented Facebook groups.
With my luck, some old lecher from college would contact me. I actually had that happen once. Not on any social media, thank goodness!
Your history professor sounded delightful, Susan.
I, too, had good a history teacher, back in high school. I always did well in that class, except for the final, when we had to write an essay. in those days, I was none-too-good in essay-writing.
But a good teacher can open up worlds to a kid. It is not that easy to figure at how to approach the teaching of history. The first teacher you described seemed bad at it.
Thanks for you essay, Susan. I enjoy things you write.
I’ve got to pop in to say I got my history BA from the same school, ten years ago. Still go to their library.
Cool! I wonder if you had any teachers that I had (although they all might be too old; Dr. Boutelle died ten years ago). The funny and terrific part of going to CSCLB was that I went there because I was accepted to UCLA, too, but thought it was way too big. I didn’t know that CalState was about the same student population–about 20,000, I think. But I had very few lecture halls –most were in smaller classrooms–and I had a great time there.
I was kind of hoping people would share their “light bulb” moments or “aha” moments, whether from school or elsewhere.
For that, @arahant wants first dibs on them:
Yeah, yeah. How about a compromise: they can tease people about their moments and promise a post on it. Then everyone wins!
First history course I recall was Jr. Hi, Coronado California. All I remember is Father Junipero Serra baptizing indians.
US history was Camp Lejeune High School, and it was dates. I do remember something about 1620 and 1812.
But history came alive under Jean North, Texas History, Mary Carroll High School in Corpus Christi (1965). She made it live, it was her passion. And she loved to share it with her students. It was her excitement that drew me in.
We walked with Conquistadors, met Karankawa indians, followed men like Goodnight and Loving (an ancestor, I learned later). Met Houston, his good points and not so good. Were taught to appreciate independence and self-reliance. On the way, we explored prejudice and it was there my own principles were forged.
I just remember an English history class when I returned to college after starting my family.
I felt betrayed! I was so angry at the quality of history teaching I had received in high school. I am still really unhappy I had no foundation in English history to understand American history.
I ended up majoring in history. The droning voice of Mr…. still a memory of how not to do it.
Terrific. I just love knowing that some teachers have a true gift for teaching. By the way, I’ll bet I had the same California History book you had. Ours had lots of colorful pictures of the priests and Indians and the work they did with adobe. It was not a thick book, but it was oversized–maybe 10″X 12″. (Don’t mean to take anything away from Ms. North.)
Oh! another one… I am not a math person. My daughter married an engineer… I was complaining about math once and he explained why he loved math… the language of God… how the Universe was created… it was an eyeopener that I really did not understand math at all. And it has changed how I see many types of science and scientists.
I don’t recall history being especially interesting when I was in grade school. Though like many young boys, I had a fascination with war stories– WWII, the Civil War, Napoleon, etc.
The older I got, and the more I read, the more I appreciated how interesting, complicated, and nuanced human events are.
There’s a close cousin to presentism—maybe it’s just another characteristic of presentism—but it’s the assumption that the prosperity, stability, and comforts of the modern world were somehow inevitable. The vague notion that history has somehow been a steady purposeful progression to the pinnacle we’re at now. Or, a simple prequel to our multifaceted present. I had a college professor that addressed it well, as he was lecturing about ancient Rome – “it’s important that you understand, people did not live their lives for posterity. People throughout history have lived their lives and made decisions in the moment, and have struggled with many of the same things we struggle with now. They weren’t preoccupied with how they would be perceived by the ‘enlightened minds’ of the 20th century.”
I have considered myself fortunate that I took high school American history in summer school (to free up time in my schedule for music classes during the regular school year). Our class was 4 hours per day. The teacher used that time very well for us to do projects that allowed us to look at trends and principles over time. We did a lot of things that could not have been done in the 48 minute class times that were normal during the regular school year.
But, my real opening to history was as an adult, visiting “living history” museums.
Not so much a “light bulb” moment, but a fun time in 9th grade algebra, courtesy of poor proof-reading by a textbook publisher, and a wise teacher.
We had a first edition of the textbook. Each section had problems for us to solve (generally for homework), with the answers to every other problem in the back of the book. We students started finding that we thought some of the answers in the book were wrong. So, our teacher turned finding the publisher’s incorrect answers into a game for which we could get extra credit. And we’d have some spirited debates among ourselves at the beginning of each class section to demonstrate the publisher’s answers either correct or incorrect. Funny that mistakes by the publisher helped us learn the material much more thoroughly than if the publisher had done its job correctly. And very wise of Mr. Jundanian (our teacher) to take advantage of the opportunity.
You may remember the Greek/Roman professor, still there since 1966! I had him at 8 am, got a C.
Did you go to high school in LB? I’m a Wilson grad.
I never took a history course after high school. Sometime in high school I think I remember having to sit through some world history, American history, and history of the state of Georgia. I think what caused me never to take a history course after that was I thought too much emphasis on events with people, places and dates and very little analysis of what was causing the events that were worth remembering.
I learned most of what I know about history from when I started family history research. So most of what I have learned in self-study of history is about developments in western civilization and some of the high points in my family history have been related to wars and military actions. One of the earliest was an ancestor, a Captain of a Scots force, sent to duty in Ulster in the 17th century and never returned to Scotland. My 5th great-grandfather was part of a North Carolina militia that joined with the Overmountain Men from what is now Tennessee to defeat Ferguson’s Loyalist Colonials at King’s Mountain as the War for Independence was moving to a conclusion. My 2nd great-grandfather joined the Georgia Madison County Greys in July 1861. He perished in the Peninsula Campaign at Yorktown in early 1862 and never saw his son, my great-grandfather, who was born in November, 1861. That’s a close call for me not being here at all or arriving into a different family.
Anyway, this impetus of interest in family history has caused me to learn much related history. I’m thankful for that.
They’re the worst.