Learning history without an argument encourages poor intellectual habits. In an attempt to disperse a wide breadth of commonly accepted facts, history courses may not include the evidence or rationale governing their choice of facts. For example, A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables, despite being fiction, present a better understanding of the revolutionary culture of France than a list describing the political factions and violent conflicts. The list encourages rote memorization, which is easier for having standardized exams, but the stories require engagement and creativity from the student, which practices skills shared among all academic endeavors. Create lessons based first on the skills trained and second on the breadth of content.