And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,/ She needs not June for beauty's heightening

Tim Singham: Eh, so what’re you going to study at university?
Me: History.
Tim Singham: PFFFFFFFFT! You’re joking!
Me: *staring around helplessly, smiling wryly and laughing dryly* Well… No.

Indeed, when I tell you I intend to read History at university, I jest not. I had better not be joking, because I’ve already applied to read History – course codes V100, V101 and V146 – at various institutions and universities in the United Kingdom (more specifically, Great Britain, and even more specifically, England).

As evidenced by the conversation quoted above, it is quite, quite ordinary for people not to take one seriously when one mentions History as a genuine academic interest. History? Huh? You can actually waste spend three whole years studying it at university? History is boring. Studying History (particularly at university) is a joke. Applicants to History have a 99% chance of being offered a place at any university, because the course is so bloody boring and bloody undersubscribed to. History graduates take forever to find employment, and if they do find employment, they are likely to be curators, curators, curators, History teachers or History teachers. A BA in History is as good as no BA. In short, History is useless.

It breaks my heart to hear all that.

My love for the subject was first kindled in 2005, intensified in 2007 and over the past two years, it has only gotten stronger, stronger, and stronger. It might have something to do with the fact that throughout my IB life in ACS I have had many brilliant, brilliant History lessons with a brilliant, brilliant History teacher, but I think History itself as a subject, as an area of knowledge definitely stole their thunder.

The word “History,” by the way, belongs to the same etymological basket as words like “idea,” “vision,” “wisdom” and “wit.” Coincidence? Not really, if you ask me.

History, ideas, vision(s), wisdom and wit have a lot in common. So many ideas of the past have had consequences so far-reaching that till today these ideas continue to affect the way people live. So many of these ideas reflect some sort of inventiveness, innovation and of course vision of the people who conceived these ideas. Wisdom is what one gains from prolonged, fruitful engagements with the ideas, events and historical narratives. Add the wit of historians to the subject and watch the incantatory power of language captivate you – yes, you.

Far from being the most useless or boring subject, History is actually the most enthralling intriguing beguiling mesmerising fascinating stimulating absorbing exciting engaging gripping engrossing subject I have ever studied.

History is alive. Contrary to all uninformed members of the schooling population and the public who believe History is a dead subject all about remembering dates, dates, dates, trivia, trivia, the occasional battle and bloodshed, dates and trivia, History focuses not on the rote learning of such details but on how to use these details. Sure, dates and years are important, but the reason History students need to know these things is to cultivate “a sense of the sweep and depth of history and why things are happening,” as Professor Christopher Smout from St. Andrew’s so eloquently put it.

If you scroll down and look to the right of this page, you will see the heading “Historia magistra vitae est” above the set of History-related links. Historia magistra vitae est – History is life’s teacher. It indeed is; the benefits of hindsight are manifold. Beneath the superficiality of everyday life lies a dense wealth of information. Thanks to the subject I am able to nod solemnly and recall the complicated events leading to the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre when reading news about the publication of Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs and its consequent revival of angry recollections of the events of June 1989, knowing that “news” is never sufficient knowledge. History is therefore not only helpful but also essential knowledge, and it keeps sentient, on my toes and in touch.

Encyclopaedic knowledge alone does not necessarily make a good historian, as historical content is but one constituent of a historian’s concerns. Yet the pleasure of engrossing myself with information is to me one of the many tremendously enjoyable aspects of History. I will always recall fondly the afternoons I spent in the national library poring over the few books on Poland, sifting out as much relevant information (i.e. information I can use in my EE) as possible, but at the same time enjoying the steady bombardment of information. The many, many essays I’ve read on the end of Communism in Europe and the Cold War have left me not enervated and disinterested, but ever-hungry, ever-thirsty for more.

I’m starting to sound lecherously, lasciviously drawn to the subject. But indeed, I really cannot get enough of the stuff. I love it and I want to spend a great deal of time with it.

As I continue my ultramarathon on the road to historical consciousness and erudition, I am convinced that my relationship with History as a subject is one that will strengthen, deepen and endure. The pursuit of History therefore brings to mind the idea of art for art’s sake, as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s Poetic Principle, where the purpose of art or poetry is inwardly directed, not fulfilling any extrinsic motivations. “L’histoire pour l’histoire” may be a liberal spin on the early 19^th century autotelic French art movement slogan, but I believe it fully captures the extent to which I believe in the self-fulfilling purpose of History.

According to Professor Simon Schama from Columbia University, History ought never to be confused with nostalgia; it’s written not to revere the dead, but to inspire the living. It’s our cultural bloodstream, the secret of who we are. And it tells us to let go of the past, even as we honour it; to lament what ought to be lamented, to celebrate what should be celebrated.

I couldn’t have worded that more accurately or beautifully. Our cultural bloodstream, the secret of who we are.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the 29^th of October 2009, at 1200hrs, I will be somewhere in Bishan participating in what will probably, predictably, promisingly be one of the most memorable and engaging experiences of my life: an admission interview to read History (V100) at the University of Oxford. The University of Oxford. The University of Oxford. Oxford. Oxford. At the moment, nerves are building, thoughts are racing and excitement is soaring.

I can’t wait.