**Reassessing History: A University’s Challenge for the Future**
Universities’ influence on society has always been viewed dynamically. Some people argue that studying the past gives little to no value when compared with future possibilities, while others argue that both aspects are fundamentally salient. I believe deeply that both matters concern equally serve a purpose. To ensure complete progress, universities should incorporate both innovation and an understanding of history.
On the one hand, putting one’s attention on future possibilities is focus is extremely important. Universities are the most significant sources of research and innovation which fuel technology, science and social progress. The proliferation of public health artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and advanced medical technologies readily comes to mind. All these innovations have the ability to solve great challenges such as changing climate and epidemics of world magnitude. Preparing students to deal with world problems through focus directed toward cutting edge research is the responsibility of the university. In addition, working with industries and government enables academic inventions to be useful and beneficial to society. Without a forward looking approach, obstinate as it sounds, universities would lose their value in perpetually changing society.
Ignoring the past is equally as problematic. Decisions made in the future are guided by invaluable lessons provided in history. One of those lessons is how to navigate an economic depression, resolve political differences, or deal with controversial scientific innovations. Ancestor cultures and social norms also provide a context for how to relate with different people considering culture and history promotes, empathy, critical evaluation, and personal upbringing. Students that studied a curriculum with no respect to history would be undertaking an exercise in futility as critical and complex problems require deeper understanding in than wisdom. This is a complex interconnection of things ranging from the future through the present into the past. This is something that must be emphasized in the university education.
For these reasons, institutions of higher learning should not focus on stemming away from the past. Studying the past and having a vision for the future is critical in developing the individual and society as a whole. Having the possibility to disrupt the status quo and still appreciate the past allows universities to effectively position themselves in impacting the future.