How the College Board Mangles the Teaching of History
The College Board is a not-for-profit company that has a great deal of influence over American education. Its Scholastic Aptitude Test (the SAT) is the most widely used test for…
Posts tagged with
“civics”
Did You Know? The 1776 Report—a Half-Done Project
A short-lived report quickly torched by the new Biden administration provides a pathway for those who seek to return to a classical structure of higher education. The report, titled the…
Unifying the Country Starts with the Education System
Education reformer E.D. Hirsch may have discovered the cure for our current political divisions—but it won’t be easy. His prescription is a total overhaul of the K-12 education system as…
Did You Know? Students Are Clueless About History
Colleges and universities across the country don’t require students to study history. Although students at many colleges are “technically” required to take a history course to fulfill their general education…
The Breakdown of American Education and the Hopes for Change
America’s system of education has failed in one of its most important goals: forming future generations of American citizens. This is particularly true in higher education, where students are encouraged…
Why Students Have Turned Away from History
I taught history from 1976 through 2013 at Harvard, Carnegie-Mellon, the Naval War College, and Williams College. The 37 years of my career coincided with a drastic change in the…
A Radical Pseudo-historian Meets His Match
Historians tend to be skeptical about the influence of books and ideas upon important historical developments, preferring to draw upon material or broadly social and cultural causes as the best…
Reinvigorating the Teaching of American History
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. —Cicero It’s no secret that many of today’s students are ignorant of American history…
Did You Know? The Disappearance of Civic Education at Elite Colleges
Modern universities are ignoring their civic duty to teach their students how to become engaged citizens. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni released a report in 2018 that showed…
A History Textbook that Inspires, Not Lectures, Students about America
From the very beginning, it’s clear that Wilfred M. McClay’s Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story isn’t a typical textbook. The title alone alerts readers that…