[ml/nj]

Pedophilia 101 at Cornell Students at Cornell University are used to courses like "Spike Lee Films," "Concepts of Race and Racism," "Whose Families? Whose Values?," "Domestic Television," "Music and Queer Identity," and "Introduction to Sexual Minorities."

My son goes to Cornell now. There are lots of things not to like, as far as I am concerned, but your post paints a very distorted picture.

Maybe they gave a course like this. I know I laughed at some of the courses given this spring as I looked over the catalogue for classes to sit in on during my three day visit. But this is 2% of the stuff they offer. There were probably 50 courses that interested me. I probably had 20 classes offered to me. (Reasons of the other 30 not being offered mostly had to do with my not asking, tests being given, or classes not meeting when I was going to be there.) I prepared for a dozen or so, and actually sat in on ten. At least four that I recall discussed one of the books on this top-ten list for all or part of the class.

The only class I sat in on that might make an article like the one you quote was called "Popular Culture," or something like that. (And I only sat in on this class because I had an open hour on my final day, and the group of students I had dinner with two nights before had recommended it.) It turned out that this class had one of the most conservative messages of any I took. Basically it was, "Don't trust Peter Jennings."

ML/NJ

[Remedy]

My son goes to Cornell now. There are lots of things not to like, as far as I am concerned, but your post paints a very distorted picture.

Apparently they have cleaned up their act since the Oct, 1998 article was written by Accuracy In Academia.

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On September 17, President Bush delivered a speech on Teaching American History and Civic Education in which he cited recent reports showing "large and disturbing gaps" in American students' knowledge of history. Links to these surveys are provided by NEH on a web page entitled Evidence of American Amnesia, part of the official web site for the White House's "We the People" initiative to be administered by NEH.

Following are some of the surveys cited on the NEH site:

(September, 2002), a report released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni which "found that none of the nation's top 50 colleges and universities require students to study American history and only 10% require students to study history at all". The report was authored by Ann Neal and Jerry Martin. Restoring America's Legacy .

In 2000, Neal and Martin authored the ACTA report, "Losing America's Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century" which provided part of the impetus for Congress' creation of the $150 million Teaching American History program within the Department of Education.

American's Knowledge of the U.S. Constitution (May, 2002), a nationwide survey commissioned by Columbia Law School which "revealed that an alarming number of voting age Americans have serious misconceptions about the Constitution and Bill of Rights".

2001 U.S. History National Assessment of Education Progress a report compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, which found that 57% of 12th Graders scored "below basic" levels, and that more students performed "below basic" on the history test than any other NAEP subject, including math and science.

 

...in 2000, ACTA released its eye-opening report, Losing America's Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century, Authors: Jerry L. Martin, Ph.D., President, ACTA Anne D. Neal, V.P. & General Counsel, ACTA
A stunning report revealing 81% of seniors from the top 55 U.S. colleges and universities failed a high school level history exam; even worse, that none of the institutions surveyed requires a course in American history, and three-quarters require no history at all. The report inspired Congress to pass a joint resolution calling for a national response and the Education Leadership Council to adopt a resolution to address America's historical amnesia. Over 800 news stories reported on the study.

• Whereas the Roper survey found that 81 percent of seniors at elite colleges and universities could not answer basic high school level questions concerning United States history, that scarcely more than half knew general information about American democracy and the Constitution, and that only 22 percent could identify the source of the most famous line of the Gettysburg Address;

• Whereas many of the Nation's colleges and universities no longer require United States history as a prerequisite to graduation, including 100 percent of the top institutions of higher education;

• Whereas 78 percent of the Nation's top colleges and universities no longer require the study of any form of history;

• Whereas America's colleges and universities are leading bellwethers of national priorities and values, setting standards for the whole of the United States' education system and sending signals to students, teachers, parents, and public schools about what every educated citizen in a democracy must know;

• Whereas many of America's most distinguished historians and intellectuals have expressed alarm about the growing historical illiteracy of college and university graduates and the consequences for the Nation; and

• Whereas the distinguished historians and intellectuals fear that without a common civic memory and a common understanding of the remarkable individuals, events, and ideals that have shaped the Nation, people in the United States risk losing much of what it means to be an American, as well as the ability to fulfill the fundamental responsibilities of citizens in a democracy: Now, therefore, be it