

Bill Gates' Idea for a History Class (2014) - zabramow
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/magazine/so-bill-gates-has-this-idea-for-a-history-class.html

======
werber
It's great to let students use something like "Big History", but the take away
for me is that Bill Gates was engaged by it and therefore wants others to use
it, instead of finding their own "Big History". Even if that means writing
about Vaporwave and using Tumblr & youtube documentaries, student engaging
critically with any content that is meaningful to them will help them to
become better thinkers and writers. Or maybe I just wish I had dropped out of
high school to watch youtube and publish think pieces.

------
JauntTrooper
I ended up listening to the whole class after reading this article last fall.

It's a fun course. I recommend it if you have a road trip coming up or are
looking for something to listen to on your commute.

------
valhalla
The whole curriculum seems like it would be very helpful in developing
students' critical thinking skills and jump starting one's curiosity about how
the world works – especially big concepts that matter. I never had a high
school class that accomplished this – though I had teachers that definitely
inspired me – so I can only imagine what the effect would be if those kinds of
teachers that taught this course

------
iQuercus
The problem with broad history is that some things interest some people, some
don't. Ideally, you could let students interested in a particular historical
topic focus on that.

