If you love history and made it your profession…

SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:01 pm

What do you do?

I know I can be a history teacher but I don’t like the BY sanitized watered down versions of it. I spend my life relearning what I was learnt consuming thousands of books, podcasts and lectures.

I’d so love to study a period in Jewish history and write up a thesis. That would be my dream. But no one is paying me for it haha.

I have my regular job which I love but my dream is to use my brain daily to keep me motivated.

So.. what do you do? (Long shot, I know.)

Last edited by SuperWify on Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Birch

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:59 pm

I love history, and I have earned a few degrees in it and have done some original research.

I work as a high school teacher and I love it! Even if I finished my doctorate, high school teaching is where I would want to stay--both because the money is better in my experience, and because I love the students I work with.

I just wish someone else could grade their work.

amother

Lightyellow

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:04 pm

Sorry, but the BY I went to absolutely did not have a watered down version of history. I am a big history buff, both Jewish and secular, and I feel pretty thoroughly educated by the BY system.
I’ve been out of high school for 14 years now and any knowledge I’ve gained since has only complemented what I learned.

↑ SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:08 pm

Frumomsi wrote:

Not sure which Bais Yakov you went to. In fact, our history teachers were very well educated, and I haven’t come across much in the many years since to make me think it was “watered down“
Maybe what they need is someone passionate about history to teach it well!

My teachers were passionate! But not super well educated. I had one teacher who I still remember her lessons until today because she didn’t shy away. She taught us about the Greek and Roman gods, the origins of Christianity ect. The rest of teachers seemed to read off their notes… which they got from another teacher….

There was a lot of crusade talk and Holocaust stuff.

Off the top of my head here are some random facts I learnt as an adult… My thoughts are all over. Sorry for the disorganization.

Sarah Schneier wasn’t childless, she was divorced
White slave pre war Europe and the fact is was covered up and forgotten
The romanization of prewar shtetl europe when in fact only 15% of Central European Jews were actually frum
Shabbtai tzvis wife Sarah
Frankinsm
Herods granddaughter Salome and his treatment of his wife Mariam after her death
The pirates of the Caribbean were real lol. They had their own republic in Nassau
The really horrific treatment of pregnant women during the crusades

There a lot more. But here’s what I recently got interested in.

↑ SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:09 pm

amother Birch wrote:

That’s nice to hear! What research did you do? What time period do you teach?

↑ SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:10 pm

amother Lightyellow wrote:

I’m happy to hear. But that wasn’t my experience.

cnc

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:11 pm

SuperWify wrote:

Definitely learned these things in school (more than once) - mainstream Bais Yakov..

amother

Molasses

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:18 pm

SuperWify wrote:

This is an interesting list. I pretty much know all this though definitely not from school... just by reading through the years. I'm not even sure these things SHOULD be covered in a high school curriculum... why would my teen age self want to know how pregnant women were treated during the Crusades.

I actually went back to college in my forties and I found the college level history classes super interesting. At least the way my class was presented, there was a lot of doing our own research and figuring things out on our own, coming to our own conclusions. You may find college really interesting if you have that opportunity. Very different from high school.

↑ SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:57 pm

amother Molasses wrote:

I’m not saying we should teach it in high school. I’m saying I don’t want to teach in high school because then I would not be able to teach freely.

This list is by no means comprehensive. Just recent topics I’m exploring.

I’d love to go to college! One day….

Last edited by SuperWify on Tue, Oct 22 2024, 8:01 pm; edited 2 times in total

amother

Bergamot

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:57 pm

SuperWify wrote:

You had me googling some of these topics now! Curious about the bolded, any info on Shabtai Tzvi’s wife? I came across some interesting but very unverified information..

↑ SuperWify ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 7:58 pm

amother Tuberose wrote:

Wait Sara schenierer wasn’t childless? She had children? I know she was divorced…

No no

We were taught that she was childless as in Sarah Eimanu was an akarah because they couldn’t have kids. Not that she didn’t have children because she was divorced.

Btw the fact that SS is the biggest feminist is totally glossed over. Side point.

A divorced single woman with opinions that no man in her generation liked. She’s totally my hero. Teenage me would be in shock. We learned she was a super tznius woman but what we didn’t learn that she kept 2 sayings in her pocket-

Kol kevidah bas melech Penima AND Eis laasos lashem

And so disregarding what was considered tznius she did what she felt she needed to do.

Last edited by SuperWify on Tue, Oct 22 2024, 8:06 pm; edited 3 times in total