Band 8+: Young people today know more about international pop and film stars than they do about famous people in their own country’s history. Why is this? What can be done to increase young people’s interest in famous people from their country’s history?

In the current era of globalization, it is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon that the young generation tend to be more aware of international celebrities than eminent historical figures in their own countries’ history. I believe this trend stems from two primary reasons, and I will suggest several solutions to this problem.

Regarding the causes, the imbalance between young people’s acknowledgment of foreign famous stars and national historical icons can be attributed to media saturation and boring education. To begin with, with the advent of various social media and other streaming platforms, media is having a pervasive influence on the public, especially on youngsters. Its algorithms tend to be entertainment-oriented and prioritize viral content about international stars, from which the youth can derive relatability and instant gratification. On the other hand, historical knowledge receives minimal coverage, making it hard to compete with entertainment news for young people’s attention. Moreover, history is usually considered a boring and unrelatable field. Traditional history classes rely on rote memorization of dates and names and dry textbooks, hence no connection between the past and current events, inducing negative associations with learning history.

However, there exists two solutions to tackle this challenge. Firstly, the government can contribute significantly to the popularity of historical news. By promoting online historical content as well as establishing more projects and campaigns to acknowledge the countries’ residents of their ancestors and history in an easily-accessible, relatable and entertaining way, the young generation may become more interested in historical figures. Secondly, curriculum for history can be modernized through adopting more interesting approach such as story-telling, utilizing documentaries and films to bring history to life, and encouraging project-based learning. As a result, history may appear to be a relevant and exciting subject, attracting students to find out about their nations’ past.

In conclusion, the distribution of media content and tedious history learning are two main causes driving young people to know more about foreign celebrities than notable historical figures. Through promoting historical content and curriculum modernization, this problem may be addressed.