“The function of the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key of understanding the present.”

E.H. Carr

The History Department at St. Joseph’s Charlestown encourages students to not just learn history but to achieve an understanding of it. While history helps develop our knowledge of the past, it is that very knowledge which helps promote our understanding of the world today. It helps develop in students not just an appreciation of the society in which they live, but of other societies in the past.

Therefore it is a subject ideally suited to help foster greater understanding between cultures and thus help promote good international relations- a core value of the school itself. Field trips, guest speakers, explorative learning and workshops are an integral part in the learning and studying of history at St. Joseph’s. History also develops in students the ability to think critically. Above all history is fun, fascinating and full of the wonders of life itself.