BACKWARDS HISTORY
I've always been a fan of teaching backwards history. The idea is that you start with what's happening today and trace the backwards flow of the events that lead up to whatever it is that is happening today.
I've always thought this would be a more effective way to teach history. Students are more interested in and knowledgeable about what is happening today than what happened in 2000 BC. And yet invariably the starting point for any world history course is the Sumerians or better yet the Akkadians.
Why not start with current events that kids know about and guide them backwards into history one step at a time. Show them the interconnections that run all through history. They probably won't make it all the way back to the Sumerians, but so what if they don't?
Truth be told it nobody much cares about the Sumerians, although they should. (Today we call it Iraq.) Hell, it would be nothing short of miraculous if they ended up with a fundamental grasp of the history of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
You could argue that most novels are also exercises in backwards history. You start with an event that just happened and you must dig back into the past to understand the roots of that event in order to truly understand what comes next.
Which proves one thing. It helps to have your head screwed on backwards if you want to be a writer.
December 16, 2009
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