What is there in history?

At several times of my life and career I have wondered how they did that? When I grew up as a poor kid I would not know where to turn into for answers. In my post undergraduate years someone gave me a copy of Autobiography of Lee Iacocca. It was a marvelous account of functional history. I learned a lot of things in glimpses. How will a country manipulate to make its export competitive? As a student of history, I found those answers in Iacocca’s book. There is a lot of useful history of car manufacturing, Ford and Chrylser corporations in that book.

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There are three Universities in the world where remarkable things have happened: 1) Gottingen University, over 23 Nobel prizes were awarded during 1906 to 1933 at this University in different branches of natural sciences. What do they do to get things correct. Fortunately, a little bit of that history is written which can be affordably located. It is not entire details that may benefits students of scientific history who may adopt some of the learnings in their functional work domain such as laboratory research but still something is there. 2) University of Uppsala at Sweden. Not much of the history of success and how all fundamental techniques of biomedical sciences (centrifugation, electrophoresis, temperature measurement) came to be discovered can be readily had in one’s fingertips. 3) University of Calcutta during 1906 to 1930 that produced some Nobel laureates at a university when the country was occupied by a “foreign” power and a big sentiment was to do a rebellion to get freedom from occupation was predominant thought amount young people.

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I call the instructive history that takes a reader how the things led to success and also how there had been several prior failures have shaped the path to be presented as “functional history”. Something that for a reader is instructive rather than just simple and repetitive story. Story is good but their relation to something that went successful or failure, how, why are most important. Perhaps a little bit about who and what kind of personalities so that the events and turns are better understood.

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Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was vice chancellor of University of Calcutta around 1906-1921. He transformed the university from being a purely examination body into a university that put forth experimental laboratories and professors who will do research just not study the book but advance knowledge. How did he do it, what he managed. How had he put together the enterprise? Which of his endeavors worked to make the university into a knowledge creation behemoth for that era. We find several books that makes Sir Mukherjee larger than life but not even a single good account of functional history. A template that the future academic leaders can look to emulate. To my mind that part of the history would be very useful to include in a curriculum.

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I had to study history till class 8th grade. This was a subject which I loved and also hated. I loved to learn how the different parts of country evolved, what sort of personalities managed it and how. I hated as a subject to remember the names and years of their birth and death. Most books were boring, shorn of “functional aspects”. I had heard once from someone who had done a Master’s of Art in history that all history is chopped someone with sword, killed someone with sword, a few “years” here and there, spicing these kind of sentences and that is all history is about. The exams that I passed for history felt just like that. Why it is relevant for a student to remember birth and death of some folks hundreds or thousands of years ago. I could gather a sense of period is important but who is whose father and grandfather for a few generations is boring and likely will not be remembered by most students beyond just a school year in that great. I would go one step further and state that is not really any learning of consequence. Functional history on the other hand will have a long-term and even lifelong memory.

I can deduce that Pharmacia Upjohn LKB, a great company, makers of biomedical instruments likely came out of University of Uppsala. However, I cannot locate that history easily or effortlessly. This did not happen in the era of venture capitalists. So how and why folks came together, how they made is so successfully?

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Some of the success of Sir Mukherjee, I can deduce is having endowed chair professors. This was not a concept in 1906. However, we find Palit Chair Professor and Khaira Professor titles in that era. For quality science you need devoted people, but you also need dedicated and assured funds. Endowed chair professorship-as we know now is one such endeavor to ensure that dedicated and interested professors have this support. Again, none of these details are available as a well-researched account. Such accounts and their integration into formal history lessons would have been great.

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In my English textbook of class 9th grade, I read Booker T. Washington’s “My Struggle for an Education”. I found it to be part of functional history. About a decade ago, based on my memory I searched and found the entire book. This is a very relevant “functional history”. To me Booker T. Washington is alive in his book telling a story that I could easily relate and find very instructive.

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Often there is a debate what should children be taught in a history book and interference of politics in history textbook. In current times in India there is an intense (and in my opinion a low grade) debate because certain things have been expunged from history textbook.

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We were financially poor so travel within a country was out of question but years later when I could travel to Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, I could find connection to history that I had read. When I traveled to Rajasthan, I found connections to history that I had read in textbooks in my 6-8th grade. In my humble opinion, at the beginning the kids should be taught abridged history of a country from the beginning to the end. There is no problem on presenting very abridged versions but putting some connections to geography and evolution of the systems will help build a memorable education. I also think that there should be skits and drama that help know the attire and customs, to the extent possible is a good part of learning history. Instead of a yearly or semester exams, history could be creative assignments, subsidized tours for the students.

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More than 300 years of history of United States of America present many opportunities to prepare short skits and drama. These are perfect research opportunities and avenues to integrate students and immigrant parents alike. Similarly, for an old and diverse country like India, integrating lessons with affordable and safe tours for the students with skits and drama can help expand learning, research and critical thinking. Above all rather than small time altercations over expunging parts of history, how to learn history to use lessons of history for future, to learn holistically about a country, about the world and above all some “functional history” is a debate and action items that one should have. No one is concerned why there is no account of Sir Ashtosh Mukherjee’s grand success but very concerned about a little part expunged that is more about “chopped someone with sword, killed someone with sword, a few “years” here and there, spicing these kind of sentences” is not that helpful for providing a childhood with much useful education for future.?