Posted on 02/04/2013 1:22:17 PM PST by Academiadotorg
The National Association of Scholars (NAS): @ UT Austin & Texas A&M . “We found that all too often the course readings gave strong emphasis to race, class, or gender (RCG) social history, an emphasis so strong that it diminished the attention given to other subjects in American history (such as military, diplomatic, religious, intellectual history),” the NAS concluded. “The result is that these institutions frequently offered students a less-than-comprehensive picture of U.S. history.”
“Despite its denunciation of ‘ideologically partisan approaches,’ the report itself is based on an idiosyncratic and ideologically driven taxonomy of the books, articles, and syllabi of historians, compiled with little knowledge of the scholarly literature and even less inclination to engage historians in serious conversation about our work,” James Grossman and Elaine Carey wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Although ostensibly analyzing how American history is taught at two universities, the authors neither attended classes nor spoke with instructors.”
“They did not examine lectures, in-class activities, or audiovisual presentations; their report signals no knowledge of digital materials or discussions, assignments, or examinations.” Grossman is executive director of the American Historical Association. Carey is vice president for the Teaching Division of the association and chair of the history department at St. John’s University, in New York.
Whatever the merits of their critique, a veteran of the Lone Star State’s institutions of higher learning claims that NAS hit bullseye. “I am neither a conservative nor a member of the association,” Richard Pells writes in a rebuttal to Grossman and Carey. “But I am an American historian who taught at the University of Texas for 40 years, from 1971 to 2011.”
“And based on my own experiences there, I believe the report’s main arguments are largely correct.”
(Excerpt) Read more at academia.org ...
Is there any particular reason why this was excerpted?
Arghhh, every time I see “taxonomy” I know that I’m getting education oriented bull-Obama.
I wonder how Einstein, et al, managed to do what they did after having being taught by those poor, disadvantaged European schools and universities that did not have the advantages of taxonomies, penumbras, and swamp gas produced by the clowns with education doctorates pinned onto their “kick me” suits.
RAY-cess!!!
I wanted to be a taxonomist when I was a kid, but never got the knack of skinning the animals.
They’re just racist toward “Whiteness Studies” (also known as “Whitey Be Bad Studies”).
Your involvement with FR seems limited to flogging your blog here.
well he posted under bloggers
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