As the world slides inexorably towards the next stage of instant gratification - whatever that bit of history in making may turn out to be - educators with good intentions across the world are questioning whether it is still necessary to teach 
history in the first place. Perhaps some think that history no longer belongs in an environment where almost everything else can be reversed by the undo buttons on our computers. Whatever the case may be, let’s hear what a few well-known people made of the role of history in the past.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC to 43 BC) - History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity.
Children who do not know the tales of the generations that preceded them are surely robbed of their inheritance and thereby impoverished too? Which of us does not share a fascination about their ancestors? Who has not recounted the lessons of history in their own past? Just as where we have come from is a vital part of our self-awareness, so 
also should it play a part in nation building too. Would those self-same educators who wish to ban history classes also like to burn the annals of the universities to whom they belong? I think not, for the reason that those academic histories are part of their own self-awareness as well.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952) - Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
The role of history is more than just to teach us from whence we came. It is also a great predictor of what will happen when politicians repeat past mistakes. At present at least some of us know enough to remind them of the past follies of their class. Do we want to grant cost-cutting bureaucrats the right to remove that basis for our judgment?
It is not good enough to point children to the internet instead. How will they know which parts connect the great themes across time? How will they learn to distinguish between noble truth and mindless propaganda?
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) – History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
History is a great source of inspiration too. Show me a person who has made their mark, and I will show you a biography of one so inspired by other people’s achievements that they resolved to add their own. History has a timeless role to play in the education of our youth and in the shaping of their decisions in later adult life. The history lesson must remain in our school curriculae lest we too repeat the dogmatic errors of the past.
