Malaysian secondary history classes have changed so much, so I am not sure what is being studied now. But during my time, we studied the history of Malaysia (of course), world history, which includes Islamic civilisations, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We didn’t go in depth with all of them; we just learned their big highlights.

The one thing I remembered about the Islamic civilisations, especially the Persians, is their pioneering work in Mathematics and the Sciences, which included Algebra, which I both loathed and am fascinated with.

We also learned about imperialism, colonial attitudes like the “white man’s burden,” etc. It was something the older generation frowned upon, as they thought we were learning politics. People of my parents’ generation tend to regard the British admiringly.

Being young, I didn’t really understand what was going on. However, as I grew into adulthood, I appreciated this foundation. I expanded my studies deeper into all of this.

Granted, however, I’m a bit of a nerd, and I like to do deep dives on random topics. (One of the deep dives I did was taking a course in the Old Testament survey, studying the history and culture of the Middle East extensively.)

And when I was studying world history in school, being dissatisfied with the Cliff’s Notes version of world history that we were studying, I decided to study on my own and wrote a book about it. (I didn’t publish it, but it was just something I did for fun.)

I must remind myself that not everyone has that interest nor the educational foundation that I had. But I still get frustrated by the assumptions people make about civilizations and countries all the time. In our age of disinformation it’s especially dangerous as people are prone to manipulation this way.

I think if people took the time to understand and learn about the history of various countries, they will gain a better understanding of the motivations of its people.