Do I have to take History to be a nurse.

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I hate History, for some reason, I can never understand it. When I get a history textbook, it takes me like 6 hours to read a chapter and understand it. Every other subject I get 100% in except history. Its soo harrdddd!!!!!

Is philosophy or any pre-req classes like history, because if it is then im gonna cry.

Never said history is a waste of time. I was just saying that by college I have had 12 years of history.

And you think you're done, with a high school level of history. Don't get me started on the fact that you're counting middle and elementary school in there. Hopefully some day you'll see the value of the liberal arts you were forced in to on a college level.

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I see history as being a bit like pathophys. If you are just learning names/dates you aren't getting it, like learning signs and symptoms just doesn't cut it. But if you look in depth into the "whys" it fits together like a puzzle and the light bulb will come on. Pick an event in history, say the plague in the 14th century. Look at what was going on in the world at that time, how the increase in trade and travel started the spread of the rats and fleas that spread the disease and you have the etiology. How did the plague affect society? It had repercussions all over the place: in government, in religion, in small town life between neighbors, in how property was passed down in families. It affected all facets of life. Are we still feeling the effects now? Yes. Some scholars believe that the seeds of the Protestant Reformation were sowed during this time because of how people changed their views about God, and the Church with so many people dying. The kings were able to consolidate power and gain more control over their countries, leading to centralized government (do we have that now? :) )

All that to say that if you learn more than names and dates, and really get into the whys, and dig deep, you will be practicing the critical thinking that is so necessary in nursing. In addition you will understand our world better, why people act the way they do, why different cultures developed the way they did. I feel these are all important things to be able to provide culturally competent care.

Nothing in history happens in isolation, nothing in nursing does either.

~Simmy

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Never said history is a waste of time. I was just saying that by college I have had 12 years of history.

Well yeah . . . but there's a big difference in 6th grade history class and a senior in high school or 2nd year of college! I'm sure a lot of elementary school history is making papier mâché replicas of Lincoln's Log Cabin in Indiana or whatever.

Yes, it's true you can be out and about practicing medicine in Venezuela by age 23 by starting a vocational focus in high school. I guess it's a philosophical difference we'll leave be for now.

Your 12 years of history probably wasn't like my 12 years of history anyway. It's shocking how dumbed down my kid's high school history textbooks are compared to what mine were like!

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I hate History, for some reason, I can never understand it. When I get a history textbook, it takes me like 6 hours to read a chapter and understand it. Every other subject I get 100% in except history. Its soo harrdddd!!!!!

Is philosophy or any pre-req classes like history, because if it is then im gonna cry.

It depends on what programs you're looking to apply to. Neither the ADN or BSN programs I applied to required history. They did require a certain amount of credits of humanities (which could include history if you chose) but you could take other things instead like foreign language, philosophy, ethics, etc....

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Specializes in critcal care, CRNA.
Well yeah . . . but there's a big difference in 6th grade history class and a senior in high school or 2nd year of college! I'm sure a lot of elementary school history is making papier mâché replicas of Lincoln's Log Cabin in Indiana or whatever.

Yes, it's true you can be out and about practicing medicine in Venezuela by age 23 by starting a vocational focus in high school. I guess it's a philosophical difference we'll leave be for now.

Your 12 years of history probably wasn't like my 12 years of history anyway. It's shocking how dumbed down my kid's high school history textbooks are compared to what mine were like!

My American history class in high school and in college where not much different. Same dates, same people and same results. I love history. I completed 2 semesters of history for my degree. I just find it amusing that now, in high school the students can take some these classes as dual credit and not have to take it again in college.

Just an observation. I do not believe that it teaches critical thinking. I learned that in nursing school. I have never heard a nurse tell me that they owe their success in nursing to the 2 semesters of History that they took before nursing school.

I am not against "classical education" but I believe that some classes do not make us better nurses. Music appreciation has not affected the way in which I care for my patients. Also I was active duty military while completing my pre-reqs so I took condensed classes. My history classes were back to back and 5.5 weeks long. Not a lot of time to critically think about what I was studying. I memorized what I needed for the tests and analyzed items on the essays. I originally CLEPed out of AMerican history but took the classes because one college I was looking at did not accept the national standard for scores.

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Just an observation. I do not believe that it teaches critical thinking. I learned that in nursing school. I have never heard a nurse tell me that they owe their success in nursing to the 2 semesters of History that they took before nursing school.

It's not history, but I learned critical thinking in my English classes, well before I started nursing school. In fact, I think my background in humanities was largely responsible for my success early on with the NCLEX questions.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

I think it depends on what kind of nursing you plan on doing. If you are planning on becoming an LPN then there are some schools that don't require it, I think they are caleld diploma schools or hospital programs. I know tehre are diploma RN's too but I haven't heard of any of those schools by me. If you intend on being an RN then probably all cc or unoversities are going to require it as a general education requirement. But let me tell you although history may be boring it is a walk in the park comparted to the rest of your pre-req's and nursing courses. So enjoy the easy ones :)

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

i am not against "classical education" but i believe that some classes do not make us better nurses. music appreciation has not affected the way in which i care for my patients. also i was active duty military while completing my pre-reqs so i took condensed classes. my history classes were back to back and 5.5 weeks long. not a lot of time to critically think about what i was studying. i memorized what i needed for the tests and analyzed items on the essays. i originally cleped out of american history but took the classes because one college i was looking at did not accept the national standard for scores.

not every course will or must make you a better nurse. it will, however, make you a better and more well rounded person. i have what amounts to two separate and distinct educations and you will never convince me that a single course i took was a waste of time or money. i was reared in a family where classical educations are the norm and we're scattered into varying professions and have benefitted from our liberal arts backgrounds. looking back over 6 generations, our family has produced many physicians, judges, lawyers, dentists, architects, and engineers, just to name a few.

the concensus is that our broad educations have vastly improved our lives, contributed to very lively

discussions (?!) at family gatherings, among friends, and at parties. a broader education also gives you insight into the different cultural mores of the people you both work with and treat.

to quote my attorney/physician dad, "an added bonus of a classical

education or simply having taken some liberal arts courses is that you can contribute to discussions at cocktail parties!"

off my soapbox!

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It depends on the program. I do not need history for my ADN program, but I will for the BSN program.

I hate history also.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
My American history class in high school and in college where not much different. Same dates, same people and same results. I love history. I completed 2 semesters of history for my degree. I just find it amusing that now, in high school the students can take some these classes as dual credit and not have to take it again in college.

Just an observation. I do not believe that it teaches critical thinking. I learned that in nursing school. I have never heard a nurse tell me that they owe their success in nursing to the 2 semesters of History that they took before nursing school.

I am not against "classical education" but I believe that some classes do not make us better nurses. Music appreciation has not affected the way in which I care for my patients. Also I was active duty military while completing my pre-reqs so I took condensed classes. My history classes were back to back and 5.5 weeks long. Not a lot of time to critically think about what I was studying. I memorized what I needed for the tests and analyzed items on the essays. I originally CLEPed out of AMerican history but took the classes because one college I was looking at did not accept the national standard for scores.

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No, I wouldn't expect a history class to teach critical thinking the way it's meant in the context of nursing. I think the term describes a mental process that is common to many disciplines. It just isn't called "critical thinking". You will very likely never hear a nurse say they owe their success in nursing to any one class, even a science class. Sharpeimom summarizes the reasons to take those classes anyway very well in her last post.

I readily concede that you don't need any of the liberal arts classes to be a nurse. Assuming you retain what you learn in the unrelated classes (and if you don't care you probably won't) it all goes into sort of a matrix that isn't quantifiable. In my case, the way in which information is presented makes all the difference, and that's a learning style issue. I do really well in a classroom environment with student-student-instructor interaction.

On the other hand, I hate online courses with a vengeance. They're dry, they're boring, they're too obvious and they're no fun. Same with equivalency tests. It's sort of like "git'er done and promptly forget about it" in my mind. Yet I will put myself through that torture if the goal is just to get the boxes checked so to speak for what I really want to be doing. There really isn't anything wrong with that approach at all. It wouldn't make much sense to talk about different learning styles and be doctrinaire about the many facets and reasons for education itself. It does bugs me to read someone saying "I hate history" (not you) when I know that if it was taught well, they probably wouldn't hate it.

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Specializes in critcal care, CRNA.
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No, I wouldn't expect a history class to teach critical thinking the way it's meant in the context of nursing. I think the term describes a mental process that is common to many disciplines. It just isn't called "critical thinking". You will very likely never hear a nurse say they owe their success in nursing to any one class, even a science class. Sharpeimom summarizes the reasons to take those classes anyway very well in her last post.

I readily concede that you don't need any of the liberal arts classes to be a nurse. Assuming you retain what you learn in the unrelated classes (and if you don't care you probably won't) it all goes into sort of a matrix that isn't quantifiable. In my case, the way in which information is presented makes all the difference, and that's a learning style issue. I do really well in a classroom environment with student-student-instructor interaction.

On the other hand, I hate online courses with a vengeance. They're dry, they're boring, they're too obvious and they're no fun. Same with equivalency tests. It's sort of like "git'er done and promptly forget about it" in my mind. Yet I will put myself through that torture if the goal is just to get the boxes checked so to speak for what I really want to be doing. There really isn't anything wrong with that approach at all. It wouldn't make much sense to talk about different learning styles and be doctrinaire about the many facets and reasons for education itself. It does bugs me to read someone saying "I hate history" (not you) when I know that if it was taught well, they probably wouldn't hate it.

If this was a posting on a site about how education is important and a discussion about classical education then I would understand everyone's point of view and personal beliefs. I was just commenting on the value of AMerican History on a nursing degree. I love history and I could also understand some value on courses that require more thinking than a survey course. Future students will have the luxury of taking these classes while gaining dual credit if high school and college. Then when they start college they will be able to start Sophmore classes or pre-reqs then enter nursing school.

Not to be disrespectful, but spending money on college courses to better my conversation at cocktail parties couldn't be a bigger waste of time for myself.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

not to be disrespectful, but spending money on college courses to better my conversation at cocktail parties couldn't be a bigger waste of time for myself.

that remark of my dad's was made in jest!:clown::jester:

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