Should I take History? GCSE

There are three areas where concrete answers will be essential before I make my decision about history: Do employers value history? 1 2 What can studying the past do for me as a person? 3 Will I enjoy the content of the course?

Well, History? do employers value

Employers and Universities The skills that are taught within the subject are very useful in work, study and life. Value History very Highly.

When studying history you will: Use information effectively – this can help shed light on a particular problem or issue confronting an organisation or individual. Weigh conflicting factors carefully before taking critical decisions. Be analytical and critical when considering information presented to you.

Understand how and why humans behaved as they did – and may behave in similar circumstances again. This can be vital in relations with the most complex factor in any job – your colleagues! Learn the arts of oral debate and expressing a clear personal point of view – invaluable skills at job or university interviews.

YOU ARE TAUGHT TO THINK AND THEN MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND !!!

convinced? Not

Independent thinkers. Open-minded. Disciplined. Good at problem solving. Able to pick out the essential from the trivial. In this rapidly changing world employers want people who are:

They want… people who have studied Histor y

Dont just take our word for it… The highly respected Which? consumer guides wrote the following in their Which Subject, Which Career? Book 2002

historians are regarded as having had an education that trains their minds to assemble, organise and present facts and opinions and this is a very useful quality in many walks of life and careers…history is an excellent preparation for very many other jobs

name Go on then, some people who have studied history and have made it to the top of their chosen field!

Right, you asked. Here we go!

Journalism and Writing Dermot Murnaghan, BBC Breakfast TV presenter (Sussex); Jeremy Bowen, BBC News reporter (UCL); Joan Bakewell journalist and author (Cambridge); Alan Green BBC Radio 5 Live football commentator (Queens); Martin Tyler Sky Sports football commentator (UEA); John Inverdale BBC Grandstand presenter (Southampton); Jonathan Legard BBC motor sports reporter (Leeds); James Moir controller, BBC Radio Two (Cambridge); Peter Wilby editor of the New Statesman (Sussex); Bill Neely international news editor for ITV News (Belfast); Melvyn Bragg ITV presenter, South Bank Show (Oxford); Jeremy Warner Business editor, The Independent (UCL); Michael White political editor, The Guardian (UCL); Salman Rushdie author (Cambridge); Andrew Morton Diana biographer (Sussex).

Business Lord John Sainsbury CEO Sainsburys (Oxford); Howard Springer CEO Sony America (Oxford); Martha Lane-Fox Founder of Lastminute.com (Oxford); Clara Freeman, OBE Chairman of Opportunity Now Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop (Bath Spa); Gerald Corbett ex CEO Dixons, Railtrack, Woolworth (Cambridge); Julia Cleverdon Chief Executive of Business in the Community (Cambridge); Patrick Gillam ex CEO BP, Standard Chartered Bank (LSE); John Varley Chairman of Barclays Bank (Oxford); Helena Stride Head of Education at Imperial War Museum; Anthony Hudson Former chairman of ICI (Birmingham); Charles Miller Smith Current CEO of ICI (St Andrews); David Montgomery former CEO Trinity Mirror PLC Sarah Tyacke Keeper of the National Archives (London).

Entertainment Louis Theroux (Oxford); Simon Thomas Blue Peter (Birmingham); Simon Mayo Radio DJ (Warwick); Conan O'Brien US talk show host and Simpsons writer (Harvard); Michael Palin presenter and Python (Oxford); Suzanne Warner Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission; Chris Martin of band Coldplay (UCL); The Chemical Brothers DJs and dance music band (Manchester); Nicky Wire Manic Street Preachers (Swansea); Neil Tennant Pet Shop Boys (N London); Sting former History Teacher! Sacha Baron Cohen creator of Ali G - studied History at Oxford.

Politics, Unions and Law Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer Neil Kinnock former leader, Labour Party (Cardiff); John Prescott MP Deputy Prime Minister (Hull); Diane Abbott MP first black woman MP, (Cambridge); Mike Mansfield QC top barrister (Keele); John Scarlett Head of MI6 (Oxford); Frances Crook, Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform (Liverpool); Chris Patten European Commissioner and Oxford Chancellor elect (Oxford); Dr John Reid MP Secretary of State for Health (Stirling); Paul Murphy MP Secretary State Northern Ireland (Oxford); John Monks Gen Sec TUC (Nottingham); Anna Blackstock Dir Gen DTI (Oxford); Alex Salmond MSP Scottish National Party (St Andrews); Seb Coe former athlete and MP (Loughborough); Michael Portillo MP (Cambridge); Alan Milburn MP (Lancaster); Tim Yeo MP (Cambridge)

Of course, history wasnt the only thing that ensured the success of these people, but certainly the life skills gained from the subject would have played a big part!

of studying the past? How can that develop me as a person? Surely its the present that matters! What is the point

The past is our spotlight on the present!

Youll enjoy looking at the past! Its fun! People in the past were every bit as clever, stupid, interesting and varied in personality as people today.

Studying the people of the past can give you real insight into people alive now. It will help you understand how and why humans behave as they do when confronted with the crises of today. Unless you become a lighthouse keeper or a hermit youll need to understand other people with all their complexities. Knowledge of people is the greatest asset of all.

Youll see how many of the problems and strengths of the world today have their roots in the past. Great or mistaken decisions; combinations of developments; conspiracies or complete mess-ups all played their part!

Perhaps the keys to the solutions of many of those problems can also be found in clues from the past. Who knows?

Students of history will be less likely to believe large lies – or small ones! The broad mass of the nation will more easily fall victim to a large lie than a small one. Adolf Hitler, 1925

You wont fall asleep in history, thats for sure! You might think that all youll be doing in history is trying to remember lots of dates and facts… Let us assure you this is not the case! You will not have to spend the entire time dredging your memory and writing things down. Your lessons will be full of different and exciting activities.

So what do students actually do in history lessons?

History is taught through many ways, for example: Youll find yourself doing role plays… constructing a reasoned argument both in writing and spoken aloud… playing a variety of fun simulations designed to make ideas easier to grasp, sometimes on your own, sometimes with friends... visiting historical sites: scenes of real, often tragic but always significant, events… learning how to become a master of debate. By the end of the course, you wont just repeat the views of others - youll be a true historian with convincing views of your own.

I cant be sure Ill enjoy the course until I know its content! But History is a vast subject

Are you beginning to think you? this subject is for

Are you inquisitive? Do you like finding the reasons why something might have happened?

prepared to become an investigator and research topics for yourself? Are you

excite you to shed new light on problems that have puzzled people in the past? Does it

like to form your own opinions, even if they might be different from those of your friends - or teachers? Do you

prepared to stand your ground and argue your case if you have enough evidence to back up your argument? Are you

Well, is….. GCSE History

H I S T O R Y ard but rewarding work. nteresting! tudy of real people in a living past! opical! f real value in employment! elevant! makes us ask why, why, why!

SHP/Modern World/Economic and Social Version of Content Teachers can provide fine detail of their own course and can insert our provided photos from the CD into the appropriate appendix presentation.

Remember… History is a useful – a vital – subject but… to do your best you must enjoy your study. Dont take history because you feel you ought to… but because you want to!

Studying the past may just brighten your future!