Enjoyment. It’s fascinating to learn about things that are ‘foreign’ or different from our own lives. Recognising what we share with people in the past, while simultaneously thinking about how profoundly their lives differed from our own, is intriguing and rewarding. Understanding humanity and the world we live in. Everyone is strongly influenced by his or her understanding of history; a deeper knowledge of history will enable you to put the contemporary world, people’s thoughts and actions, into context. You should study history if you wish to learn how and why the world and its peoples came to be as there are today. Essential skills. History provides us with the skills to analyse and explain issues in the past, present and future and communicate our ideas clearly; it helps us think and write properly (the bits machines can’t do in a service economy). Any career that rewards clear thinking, good writing, articulate speaking and the ability to ask and answer complicated questions about how the world works will be open to a History student.