Okay, so I never really went out of my way to take extra history classes or read any history books, but I've always had a soft spot for the subject thanks to a couple of influential teachers. On the other hand, Yosuke's least favorite subject is history. I think it's because how dryly the subject is approached in Japan - just memorization of dates and such.
We don't often work on history together because his teacher takes time to give him some individual help, but occasionally we find ourselves catching up on his assignments. In the rare instances where we're working on history and have some extra time, I'll usually take time out from filling out worksheets to go over one or two topics in detail. Thankfully, Yosuke doesn't seem to mind the diversions and is open to having conversations about whatever history topic I latched onto.
For example, when he was studying WWI, there was a short section in the textbook about the runaway inflation in Germany. I tried to explain how burning the paper currency became cheaper than buying fuel, and while I'm not sure he totally understood (I remember myself that inflation is a difficult topic to grasp at first), the idea certainly captured his attention.
Today we talked a bit about political parties and Nazis. At one point, we were talking about Kristallnacht and he asked me, "Who was wrong - the Nazis or the Jews?" Hmm, what could you say to such a question? I just turned the question back on him and made him answer it. He eventually came to the conclusion that the Nazis were wrong. I wonder if his lack of opinion on Nazis until this point is a cultural thing?
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