History is Always Written Wrong

History is a thing that needs to be discovered. How can you write about things that happened before you were born? History is always written wrong so needs to be rewritten. We have been discussing this quote by the writer and philosopher George Santayana (famous also for the quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemened to repeat it". We have approached this as Philosphers, contesting it, debating it, expanding on it. Some of the comments made by our students include: " History is just written in someone's opinion" "Can history be fake, like fake news?" "Does it matter if it is written wrong?" "Winners write the history, so their point of view doesn't include the point of view of the losers" "Do historian's simply make mistakes as they try to record history?" Do people rewrite history to make themsleves look better?" "How do they learn about the past? What is the evidence?" "Are all historians experts on their subjects?" "The story of Captain Cook is being rewritten because it was written wrong" "People are effected differently by the story of Cook. Some think he is a hero, some think he is a villian. Some beleive he is both. Timne makes us see things dofferently" "How does a reader know if the writer's point of view is true?" "If History is always wrong, is the news always fake?" Futher, related questions and comments include: "What is a herstorian?" "You must have to be brave to be an Historian" "I noticved that Lala chose to make a movie about the history of Tupaia rather than write a book" "Hisory has to be scientific or how would it work? It is based on facts. Like the dinosaurs, they existed!" "Historians try to correct history by rewrting it" History changes through the generations, as the stories are told and retold they change."

History is always written wrong so it has to be rewritten. This is us on a continuum to show how much we agree/ disagree with the statement.