Andymoon, you are completely wrong, Most major state universities no longer have a core that you have to take American History or the other. That might have been the case when you went to school but it is not the case now...I'm glad your community college requires it though, that is a good sign. Trust me, I am doing the research on it right now because that is my job. And if you look at the graduate centers, out of all the major state universties, you will find very few programs dedicated to advancing research and thought into the American founding, or making a better argument for why the founding is good. And the spending that was cut from the 1950's had to do with Defense study, which has been cut. We still fund colleges out the ass to do research, so I don't really know where you get the idea that we are not. Not to bring up a guy I really hate but lets look at a report that Clinton backs-- The Shanker Report. Here is the consensus of the report, There is a general concern about the abysmal state of Americans regarding their own history. The US is being slandered in academic venuesin Western Countries as well as in popular opinion throughout the world. In the mideast, it has even taken on murderous aspects. Americans, in contrast, are bereft of knowledge of about themselves. A disclination to explore and reflect deeply upon their own identities leaves them vulnerable to the winds of popular opinion in matters so grave. the Shanker Report is a wake up call to the abysmal state of our nations teaching of history, particularly American History. Oh, and by the way, most of the research is still done in Universities, not in private hands. So WHO doesn't know what he's talking about?
I just checked and UH, UT, A&M, on top of every community college in Texas (state mandated) REQUIRES 2 semesters of American history along with a semester of government. Sorry, I prefer to check the facts myself. I did, and YOU are wrong. History is required at every major university. Graduate programs are created when there is a demand for the degrees they crank out. If there isn't much going on for graduate programs in "research and thought into the American founding" it is probably because that degree is almost useless except for history teachers. Total federal funds for research amounted to 17.5 billion in 2000. I would not call that funding colleges "out the ass." According to the Association of American Universities, Universities do 11% of total research in the US. They also do 44% of the BASIC research in the nation. Neither of these stats show that MOST of the research is done by universities, so either it is YOU that doesn't know what he is talking about or it is you that needs to find some contrary evidence. http://www.aau.edu/resuniv/GvmntFunding.html
They may not require American History, which most of us took in high school anyway, but American Govt and State and local are still pretty standard. What does technology and Clark have to do with the requirements that our Universities have? It's not like it would cost a lot of money to change that, so it's not about money at all. Besides, most americans don't even go to college. If you want people to have a better understanding of history, go to the source and improve high schools.
Andy, I think we have to say that we are both wrong on this one, simply because out of all the research I've done, I can only find Arkansas and Texas as having state required courses that have to be taught. At most other schools, its design your own major. I don't know too much about the other stuff you were quoting except that 44% of the Basic research would probably qualify as the largest research number... but I think you are missing the point, I'm not trying to say those things are even bad, but that more funding needs to go towards centers that study great books, that revolve around the core principles of our nation and defending those prinicples. America is taking a beating all over the world and we need to teach our youth why are country is so great to live in... I don't want to turn this into an argument because this is a pretty bipartisan issue.... Oh yeah, also, I kind of have a problem with the way they teach the history courses. Instead of actually reading Federalist 10, they read a book that tells them about federalist 10, we need more actual primary texts being studied rather than text books, which have fallen to the tide of PC.
One thing I think we can both agree on is that the educational system has, at best, stagnated over the past 30 years. We used to lead the world in education and these days that is not true. Personally, I believe it is far past time to find better, more efficient ways to teach and learn. I agree, but I think that the bigger picture is that we tend to teach people facts, which I consider to be just data that can be looked up, rather than HOW TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES. If we taught people how to think, they would get much more out of reading the Federalist Papers, or Jefferson's letters, or even the Constitution.
Andy, thats what colleges aren't doing anymore. If you took a US History class back in the day do you think you would really be reading about non discrimination policies and all the whoo ha thats gets passed off as stuff that is really really ridiculously important? I mean the University of Michigan's Graduate centers are dedicated to everything but the study of American History/Government
