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 … Continue reading “A History Textbook that Inspires, Not Lectures, Students about America”
Editor’s Note: Roger Ream gave the following lecture at the Martin Center’s annual policy banquet on October 24th. It appears here in abridged form. It is an honor to be … Continue reading “Preserving the Values of a Free Society in Higher Education”
Though college leaders constantly remind the public about the value of a college degree, graduates sometimes leave without important knowledge. As Americans celebrate the 4th of July holiday, it’s a … Continue reading “Colleges Reject Duty to Teach Liberty’s Framework”
The federal government has no constitutional authority to spend money on higher education, to give or lend students money for it, to direct how colleges will function, or anything else. … Continue reading “The One Instance Where the Feds Should Spend More on Higher Education”
Legal education has become a surprisingly regular topic of news media for several years now. Most of this commentary has focused on enrollment and matriculation problems, bar passage rates, accreditation … Continue reading “Making Legal Education Great Again”
The authoritarianism that increasingly characterizes the American professoriate is on full display in a case involving the master’s program in social work at Rhode Island College (RIC). A student who … Continue reading “Either Support Our Politics or Find Another Field”
Famed literary critic George Steiner once said that cultural knowledge allows one to “resist” and that “no one can make a zombie of you if you carry [cultural knowledge] inside … Continue reading “The High Cost of Cultural Amnesia”
We have come to ignore what has always been understood as a primary goal of education: the formation of reflective and responsible citizens. We are paying the price for that neglect today. All too many Americans, even nominally well-educated ones, do not understand their own political and economic systems, and are appallingly ignorant of the American past. They are bereft of any sense of love for, or profound connection to, their own nation and its traditions. Needless to say, such citizens will have neither the intelligence nor the heart to meet the rigorous challenges of a very demanding future. We will have to do better, and start doing so very soon, if we are to maintain a republican form of government.
Tomorrow is the day we celebrate our nation’s founding—and the first time that a nation was deliberately founded on reason and the rule of law instead of on accidents of history. The central question of this article is “how are the founding and related topics treated in today’s academia?” It is a matter of crucial importance, since academia’s treatment of the nation’s history and fundamental ideals influences the future.
People are right to be skeptical of the College Board’s new Advanced Placement U.S. History standards. They accelerate the trend toward making American history mainly about race, class, and gender grievances. Events are included only if they can be framed that way.