History is important in order to understanding where the techniques come from so we can modify it for modern needs. For example, if the founder of your system was living in an area with a lot of ice on the ground, there wouldn't be a lot of kicking in your style.

Or if your style was invented by an ancient general, there wouldn't be much ground grappling because it is useless against multiple opponents with swords on the battle field (the style would emphasize a lot more classical weapons training).

The punches would be bigger in motion in order to punch through the armor of a man.

For our time, it would be smart to change and learn some grappling for back up and to change the punches to a smaller and faster structure because people don't wear armor anymore.

If your founder was a fisherman and fought a lot on boats, the style would have a lot of low stances to prevent losing balance in the water.

For our time, the stances should be higher for greater mobility because we are not fighting on boats!

It is dangerous and stupid to follow tradition blindly. The point is that we should know the histories of our styles in order to understand and modify our training for efficiency in our time and specific culture.

For example, I am 5 ft 4" tall, it would be impractical to me to train a lot of elbow strikes to the head when most people are 6 feet tall. But if I were still in China, I would be elbowing every day. Everyone is my height!!!

Most importantly, by knowing the history of your style accurately, you will know what the founder was thinking when he invented the system.

It is great to learn how to think not just what to think. Any field worth training in must change and evolve - it is martial ART.