Let’s be real: if you’re a college student in 2025, you’ve probably at least thought about using AI to help with an essay or even (c’mon, be honest) used it to craft a paper from A to Z. Not because you’re lazy. Maybe it was a late night. Maybe your history paper was worth 30% of your grade. Maybe history is just the last subject you’re passionate about. Maybe it was a date night. Maybe you just needed something to get started. Whatever it was, we don’t judge. But still, we ask ourselves why college professors still make students work on history essays at all, while there’s AI. We’ll give some answers below.
History Essays Aren’t About the Past, They’re About You
Of course, you can be assigned the task to craft a paper about the French Revolution or the Civil Rights Movement. However, what professors actually give you an A for isn’t how well you can repeat the facts they know very well. After all, anyone can now turn to an online essay writer AI to generate a polished paper with citations in minutes. What they’re really looking for is the ways you analyze information, how you come up with and build an argument, as well as how you decide what matters and what your readers won’t find useful.
All in all, you work on an essay in history to answer questions like:
- Why did this happen?
- Who benefited?
- Who was left out?
- What were the consequences?
Those are critical thinking skills. And the most important part is that you will need them in literally any career or niche that doesn’t involve being replaced by a robot.
Artificial Intelligence Gives All Answers But Never Teaches to Think
When it’s time to summarize (which is a part of any work in history), nobody can do better than AI. It’s simply a Hollywood star among summarizing experts. However, it can’t think. That’s right. The only thing it does is predict some patterns based on the information that already exists and is available. That means it can tell you what has been said about history, but not help you develop your own perspective, point of view, good or bad. When you work on a history essay without the help of robots, you have a great opportunity to learn how to evaluate biased sources, notice even minor contradictions, and make sense of messy, incomplete information. And in a world full of misinformation and TikTok experts, knowing how to think critically is kind of a skill everyone needs to survive.
Writing Builds Skills AI Can’t Replace
…yet.
Let’s imagine that artificial intelligence becomes 100% perfect tomorrow. But still, you will need to be able to persuade others, communicate clearly, and explain complex ideas in your own voice. When it comes to history essays, they basically serve as low-stakes practice for real-life situations. The latter include:
- Writing emails that your boss will actually read.
- Making arguments in meetings.
- Advocating for yourself, your community, your beliefs, and so on.
As you can see, it doesn’t really matter what field you are engaged in. No matter your major, strong writing means having a strong influence.
History Essays Help You Understand the World You’re Living In
While a lot of students confess that they believe history is absolutely irrelevant, the truth is that 99% of today’s chaos is rooted in the past. As you work on an essay in this field of study, it helps you detect the links between things like colonialism and modern global inequality. You see how past voting laws are tied to current political debates and get a better idea of social movements then and activism now. It is the process of writing that forces you to slow down and actually understand these connections. Instead of just scrolling past them on social media, you dig deeper and understand better what is going on around you. At some point, you even agree that history isn’t just what happened a long, long time ago, but why things are the way they are. And, well, there’s definitely something in it.
Writing History Essays Teaches You About Truth
In other words, it builds intellectual honesty. It teaches us what evidence and responsibility are. When you are the author of your paper, you are encouraged to be more honest in learning and respect knowledge. It reminds you that understanding the past takes effort, patience, and care (not just a couple of clicks). At the same time, when you are fully relying on artificial intelligence, it can weaken this sense of responsibility. Writing, even when it is challenging, helps you grow academically and personally. That’s something.
Now that you know why it is better not to skip the history essays in high school or college, let’s take a look at the real reasons why these academic projects matter:
- They teach you how to question narratives.
- You learn to understand power.
- You have a clearer view of and can learn from past mistakes.
After all, this world is moving so fast and forgets so easily, that when you take the time to write a history essay, think about past events and people, and provide reasonable arguments, you’re kind of performing a radical act. So yes, on the one hand, history essays can be annoying and time-consuming. They can be challenging and ruin all of your plans to party hard on a Saturday night. But they’re also helping you become someone who doesn’t just accept information without turning your brain on, but someone who understands it.
AI Isn’t the Enemy
… replacing yourself is.
To cut a long story short, artificial intelligence is not a problem, but using it instead of thinking is. AI can help you when you’re in the middle of a topic brainstorming session or need a helping hand to clarify confusing concepts, plan the paper, etc. But when you let it do all the work and simply fool around while robots are sweating over your history essay, you’re cheating yourself out of the learning part. And this part is actually something that stays with you when college years are over. Make artificial intelligence your reliable study buddy, not a substitute.