Comments on: How can I make history a meaningful career? How can activism fit in with history? http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/ Career and Job Advice Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: william_byrnes2000 http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/comment-page-1/#comment-1707 william_byrnes2000 Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:10:35 +0000 http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/#comment-1707 Well the law and politics are obvious choices, but you can also make a difference in the classroom. Is there a teacher that ever really moved you? You could be that teacher for the next generation. And don't forget that in academia, it's publish or perish, so you can do quite a bit with writing as well. Wasn't it the Influence of Sea Power on the War of 1812, by Alfred T. Mahan of Annapolis that eventually led to first our two ocean Navy and later the Panama Canal? I wouldn't avoid the study of activism either. Thoreau's Civil Disobedience waited some 60 years before it reached the eye of Mohandas Gandhi and one hundred before it reached Martin Luther King. Well the law and politics are obvious choices, but you can also make a difference in the classroom.

Is there a teacher that ever really moved you? You could be that teacher for the next generation.

And don’t forget that in academia, it’s publish or perish, so you can do quite a bit with writing as well. Wasn’t it the Influence of Sea Power on the War of 1812, by Alfred T. Mahan of Annapolis that eventually led to first our two ocean Navy and later the Panama Canal?

I wouldn’t avoid the study of activism either. Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience waited some 60 years before it reached the eye of Mohandas Gandhi and one hundred before it reached Martin Luther King.

]]> By: ahiddentableau http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/comment-page-1/#comment-1706 ahiddentableau Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:12:53 +0000 http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/#comment-1706 There are plenty of would-be activists in the historical profession. They're the people who go to historical conferences and get on their soapbox. Academics who shriek and cast aspersions on everyone who presents arguments which differ from their own. For all the talk of passion, engagement and social justice that exists in the academy, the fact is that most activists make terrible historians. Sure, objectivity is impossible. Progress a delusion. But good historians are open-minded give all arguments a fair hearing. And beyond that, if you feel so passionately about certain causes, you'd be miserable in academia. As the last respondent pointed out, activism is far better suited to politics or the law -- jobs where your goal goes beyond the presentation and exchange of ideas and toward getting out there and actively trying to change the world. There are plenty of would-be activists in the historical profession. They’re the people who go to historical conferences and get on their soapbox. Academics who shriek and cast aspersions on everyone who presents arguments which differ from their own. For all the talk of passion, engagement and social justice that exists in the academy, the fact is that most activists make terrible historians.

Sure, objectivity is impossible. Progress a delusion. But good historians are open-minded give all arguments a fair hearing. And beyond that, if you feel so passionately about certain causes, you’d be miserable in academia. As the last respondent pointed out, activism is far better suited to politics or the law — jobs where your goal goes beyond the presentation and exchange of ideas and toward getting out there and actively trying to change the world.

]]> By: DCFN http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/comment-page-1/#comment-1705 DCFN Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:17:55 +0000 http://www.resumebutler.com/blog/how-can-i-make-history-a-meaningful-career-how-can-activism-fit-in-with-history/#comment-1705 Politician Lawyer Judge Peace Corps to start, to get experience with cultures who are living tomorrow's history today. Politician
Lawyer
Judge
Peace Corps to start, to get experience with cultures who are living tomorrow’s history today.

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