2 posts tagged “history”

"History before the emergence of writing around 3,000 B.C. ... constitutes 99.9% of the five-million-year history of the human species." - Jared Diamond's preface to the paperback edition of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Jared Diamond

I feel like the dumbest person in my history class. 

I learned to love history after I wrote a note to my BFF in my fourth grade history class.  It said, "History Sux!"  I had to read the note out loud, cus I got busted passing it to my BFF.  After that, I vowed to give history a try. 

In sixth grade, I had a teacher who taught, among the other sixth grade subjects, ancient history.  He sparked in me an obsession in Egyptology and Greek/Roman mythology and archaeology and basic linguistics.

From then on, I pretty much cruised through history classes. 

Until now. 

I'm in this history class.  A MODERN history class.  And I feel like I can't keep up.  In all honesty, I'm not used to feeling stupid in school.  Well, except for math, which I just can't grasp.  Aside from math, I'm used to excelling and being the teacher's pet and getting extra credit to attain the ellusive A++ on assignments. 

No more. 

And it's bumming me out.

All of my family have now graduated.  And they all have my back.  And this has nothing to do with that, really. 

But.

I just feel dumb sometimes.  Like, looking-around-at-people-as-they-talk-in-class-and-not-understanding-what-they're-saying-and-wondering-how-or-why-I-should-even-be-in-school-anymore dumb.  Like, deer vs. headlights dumb. 

So.  Like I did in fourth grade, I'm telling myself I have to do better.