Hegel, History, & Racism

For those of you who don’t know much about Hegel, one of his most influential and interesting views was on the philosophy of history. Hegel thought mankind and progress were driven by history. His view was also very optimistic, as he thought that history always pushed mankind closer and closer to its ideal state. History, for Hegel, is one continuous improvement.

I find an interesting point of contrast with this in regards to racism. Take the often cited example of little children playing together. No racism exists when little children play together; they simply play with other children near them. Their views only seem to change after a parent tells them not to play with certain kids and after learning history.

History teaches kids to send unwarranted animosity towards other little kids. You tell a black kid about slavery and segregation and there’s almost no doubt some animosity will grow inside of him towards white people and white kids. You tell white kids about WWII and Pearl Harbor and they’ll likely have some hatred towards Asians and Asian kids.

I’m not saying we should eliminate the teaching of history altogether. History certainly has its worthwhile points, including the teaching of morals and the sparking of ideas in people for innovations and improvements. I’m simply saying that history has the problem of trying to teach kids about racism without making them somewhat racist themselves. And something should be done about this.