knowledge about the past
The provided statements say that knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today. I do not agree with the idea for the following reason.
To begin with, basic patterns in which humans behave have not changed a lot. Most people have similar basic craves, such as eating well, sleeping well and living in a decent place. When these basic demands are met, people want to get personal accomplishments. Given this, it is fair to say that the essence of humans behaviors remains unchanged, although environments and surroundings around us keep changing. For example, students learn divergent histories, such as world history, national history and cultural history. One of the reasons that we learn various histories is that history, the knowledge about the past, help us to know the current situation and forecast the future. History usually plays a crucial role in making decisions.
In addition, influences that the environment around us exerts on us are bigger than expected. And the environment does not fluctuate as much as we think. Knowing about the past allows us to know how people in the past responded to issues that have much in common with those facing us now. For example, you can find easily an article in newspapers where its author substantiates his argument with some relevant historical facts.
Lastly, knowing about the past helps us to catch up with the context of a situation. Most issues or developments take place within a context. When you try to find a solution or make a decision, the first thing that you have to do might be to figure out why they happened. It is hard to come up with a solution without any analysis on what has been going on around us.
To sum it up, knowledge about the past plays a crucial role in making decisions. It helps us to find reasons, catch up with the context, and come up with various solutions.