History is very messy, and sometimes the truth is horrific.

As much as many people sometimes want to- or wish that they never happened, they can't deny the impact and the travesty that occurred in humanity's darkest hours. To hide and deny it means to be ignorant.

Greatness changes from day to day, hour to hour, week to week. It's dynamic and everchanging.

One thing that may be great for some, could be awful for others.

I think that it's okay to feel both. You can be equally proud or ashamed of your countries history, and that's a good thing.

You've seen the best or the worst moments of your nation's past, and it's okay to acknowledge your feelings. Be ashamed and horrified that it was- at one point -okay to own slaves. But you can also be proud- that people saw that as morally wrong and horrifying, and sought to change it.

One of the most important questions in a history class, but it's also a loaded question- It's almost ironic, how simple it is to ask but how long and expansive the answer is.

We look to the beginning of humanity, and follow the footsteps and stories of our ancestors over thousands of years. We see them coincide and interact with each other, simultaneously and not.

I agree with this. History is very important, as it helps us understand what things were like before, how cultures and nations formed over the years.

Not to mention the mistakes they made in the past. We look to those mistakes and resolve to never do them again. We stare upon the awful things people did, and know to do better. To understand and say that "this is wrong, how can we change it for the better?"

This brings me back to one of my high school classes- it was a geography class. I could tell right off the bat that it wasn't something that the teacher particularly cared for. It was packets on packets, and lots of movies. I barely remember any of it.

In contrast, I had a creative writing class in which the teacher genuinely loved their chosen interest. I can look on that fondly, and still remember the teachings.

There's a difference between classes when one is uncaring and just cares about giving the kids a grade- and the other who genuinely wanted their students to learn and grow.

Especially for those who love to write, the knowledge that you have to be extremely careful with your words- knowing that it'll end up subtracting from your work- makes it feel like a chore.

Writing essays- sometimes feel like slogging through mud, just writing enough to reach the requirements, instead of enjoying and learning from the research.

I'm even guilty of this. In my case, I see a grade as more of a tangible goal, even if it's not the best example of proper motivation. Sometimes it's hard to get motivated to do certain things, so I need something with a sort of reference to cut to the point- in a sense.

I've noticed this a lot. Many times when people are assigned a reading, they do their best to try and 'save' time. Looking for topics and reasoning, and ignoring some of the more important issues a text is trying to get at. I don't know if this has to deal with time constrictions, or just wanting to skate by.

Growing up as a kid, and knowing that grades were a big part of how people viewed a person as 'successful'. There were many times where, even if I wanted to do a more challenging project or topic; I would go with something I already knew because I didn't want to take a chance on having my grade drop.

Assigned readings were always a struggle for me in middle and high school. While I loved reading, I was never the biggest fan of them being directly assigned to me, it almost felt like "Here's a book, you probably won't like this, but we want you to read everything and then tear it apart."

I want to enjoy my reading experience, I want to learn and talk about it, but tearing it apart made it all feel so forced.