Make history compulsory study

The title assigned to the referenced letter asks for alternative ideas, and this is an alternative to the criticism of the proposal that “the entire faculty of Thammasat University should adopt history as a 'compulsory subject”.

History in advanced countries is being systemically destroyed to accommodate here-and-now consumerism, and people in some advanced countries now do not even know the histories of their own politics.

For instance, since 1960 there have been 13 US presidential elections, and five of those are of particular interest: in the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon race, Kennedy won by .17 (point one seven) per cent of the votes cast; in the 1968 Nixon-Humphrey race, Nixon won by .7 (point seven) per cent; in the 1976 Carter-Ford race, Carter won by 2.06 per cent; in the 2000 Bush-Gore race, Bush won but Gore had more votes, by .51 (point five one) per cent; and, in the 2004 Bush-Kerry race, Bush won by 2.46 per cent.

How many Americans, even academicians, know enough US history to realise how close some US presidential elections have been?

The idea of compulsory history education, especially for academicians, is fine with me.

Guy Baker

Bangkok