No, what I'm saying is that it's important to understand the past to understand the present, but trying to claim one studies history purely to recognize patterns and learn from the mistakes of those who came before is naive. If you're ever having a conversation with a historian on the subject and try to make that argument - that you study history to learn from the mistakes of others - they'll write you off fairly quickly as someone who doesn't understand what they're talking about, or set you straight.