Man, through the
ages, has undergone many changes, from the times when he depicted a herd of
mammoth on a wall of a cave to nowadays when he drives a car, watches TV and
surfs an Internet. I believe that all achievements that were made by humankind
are possible only because people always learnt from their past. In fact, the
definition of learning includes the idea of accumulation of experiences from
the past with present knowledge. So, I must totally disagree with the statement
above that learning about the past has no value.
The first reason for
this is that human evolution was possible only because people accumulated their experience and
knowledge of ancestors and it helped them to make a step forward. Second of
all, they analyzed their mistakes and tried to avoid them next time. People
tried to improve their life by learning from the past. Just imagine that every
one would have to discover by himself that 2 + 2 = 4 or that fire can be
harmful. Furthermore, all knowledge that we have now is a result of the
constant work of our ancestors.
Another important
aspect of the fact that our past is essential is that past makes us doubt. Take
for example the fact that a few centuries ago people were sure that the Earth
was flat. Next generations with their new experience proved that the Earth was
round. I believe that it happened not because scientists did not know about
previous achievements in this area but because their new observations made them
doubt about the well-known fact and they developed the new theory.
In addition, if
follow the statement that our past has no value for us then we should not take
experience and any advices from our parents. Imagine, that we learn by
ourselves how to speak, walk, drive car, cook, read, etc.
To summarize, I think
that learning from the past is even more important then our own experience. One
can not move forward if he does not realize why and where he is now.
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