<p>No, you don’t need to know much of anything about history to get a good job or live a fulfilling life. But if you want to consider yourself an educated person, you certainly do.</p>
<p>But then again, to consider yourself an educated person, you should also be able to explain the principles of photosynthesis, explain how GNP and GDP are calculated, speak at least one language in addition to your native tongue, calculate a basic derivative of a function, write a simple compute program, explain the principles of sonata form, analyze a Shakespeare play, list the guarantees of the Bill of Rights, calculate the probability of winning the lottery … etc.</p>