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Don't Know Much About History
WSJ Editorial Page ^ | 11/23/01 | Opinion Journal/WSJ Editorial page

Posted on 11/23/2001 1:14:47 PM PST by yankeedame

Don't Know Much About History

Top colleges that let students ignore Western civilization.

This is a list of schools that appeared in the U.S. News and World Report's 1999-2000 ranking of top rated national universities and national liberal-arts colleges that do no require the study of any history or Western civilization.

- Amherst College

- Barnard College

- Bates College

- Brown University

- Bryn Mawr College

- California Institure of Technology

- Carleton College

- Claremont-McKenna College

- Connecticut College

- Duke University

- Grinnell College

- Haverford College

- Johns Hopkins University

- Macalester College

- University of Michigan

- Mt. Holyoke College

- Oberlin College

- Pamona College

- Rice University

- Smith College

- Stanford University

- Swarthmore College

- Trinity College

- Vassar College

- Washington and Lee University

- Wellesley Colelge

- Wesleyan University

- Yale

These are (3 of 15 listed) schools that have what sounds like a history requirement but can be satisfied by nonhistory courses (or in some cases by completion of a high school history course):

- Bowdoin College

- Univ. California at Berkley requires all graduates to fulfill an American history and Institutions requirement mandated by state of California. Students who fulfill state high school history requirement with a grade of C or better are exempt. Students must also fulfill an American Cultures Breadth requirement, which can be satisfied by such courses as "No Body's Perfect" (offered by the English Department), "Alternative Sexual Indentities and Communities" and "Cultural Landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area".

-UCLA requires all graduates to fulfill an American History and Institutions requirement mandated by state of California. Students may be exempted by fulfilling state high school history requirements with a grade of B or better.


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The rest of the schools can be found by going to the given web site. I would have listed them all here but the list, along with the accompanying notes, is pretty dog gone long.
1 posted on 11/23/2001 1:14:47 PM PST by yankeedame
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To: yankeedame
WSJ incorrectly spelled at least one of the college names but that may prove the point.
2 posted on 11/23/2001 1:20:58 PM PST by KirklandJunction
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To: yankeedame
That is certainly distressing, but not surprising news. I remember reading that one could get a BA in English at Georgetown without taking any Shakespeare courses.

On the other hand, judging by the atmosphere at most academic institutions, the history that students would be exposed to isn't much more than leftist slop. So maybe, as bad as this situation is, it would be worse if students were forced to take these courses. What a terrible shame that things have come to this.

3 posted on 11/23/2001 1:25:32 PM PST by ValenB4
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To: yankeedame
I guess the graduates of these schools are doomed to relive history, huh?
4 posted on 11/23/2001 1:30:30 PM PST by Savage Beast
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To: yankeedame
The mention of UCLA and it's requirement brings back memories of my senior year there. I hadn't completed the foreign language requirement and had enrolled in Portugese I, dreading going through 2 quarters of it to fulfill the the requirement.

Proof positive that there is a God, the language requirement was dropped about 2 weeks into the quarter and so was my Portugese class.

A couple of quarters of American history looks quite attractive in comparison.

5 posted on 11/23/2001 1:31:23 PM PST by jmp702
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To: yankeedame
Just consider that "Social Studies" has replaced actual "History" in many schools. It's almost impossible for a sane, literate, conservative to survive graduate school or find meaningful employment in the edusophical bureaucracy after completing an advanced degree. Fill in the blanks.

If there is a school system in the country which actually teaches real "History" for four years in ordered sequence without leftoid bias, I'd very much like to know about it. [?]

6 posted on 11/23/2001 1:33:53 PM PST by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: ValenB4
Which is worse--not to learn history or to learn it wrong?
7 posted on 11/23/2001 1:33:58 PM PST by Savage Beast
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To: yankeedame
BTTT
8 posted on 11/23/2001 1:37:34 PM PST by Fiddlstix
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To: Savage Beast
Which is worse--not to learn history or to learn it wrong?

Excellent question. I'll have to think about it.

9 posted on 11/23/2001 1:37:52 PM PST by Pharmboy
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To: ValenB4
About three years ago I asked a couple of young guys I knew from one of the local clubs if they could tell me within five years when the Civil War was fought. One of them just snickered and walked away and the other one told me that "History wasn't my "major"". Both of them have degrees and both of them have very good jobs. I asked a young lady the same thing when she told me she wanted to be a lawyer and was "majoring" in History at that time. She just stood staring at me with a blank look on her face. Try asking that to young college students who have gone to public schools.
10 posted on 11/23/2001 1:38:21 PM PST by PeteyBoy
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To: PeteyBoy
This especially sad when you consider the Washington and Lee had Robert E. Lee as president immediately following the war, and Bowdoin had Joshua Chamberlain as president.
11 posted on 11/23/2001 1:42:14 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: yankeedame
- Amherst College=MASS

- Brown University=R.I.

- Connecticut College=Some wierd college, here in ct

- Mt. Holyoke College=MASS, lesbian college

- Smith College=MASS Lesbian college

- Trinity College=CT, some wierd liberal college

- Wesleyan University=CT, Middletown, teaches pornography as a credited course, liberal

- Yale =New Haven, CT, Hillary spoke there last year for graduation

12 posted on 11/23/2001 1:45:25 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: yankeedame

13 posted on 11/23/2001 1:47:09 PM PST by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: yankeedame
It could be added that if the former students enlisted to "defend civilization" now did not study real history in their formal education, there is a strong likelihood that they will not understand what they are supposed to be defending or the dramatic contrasts posed in the rhetoric.
14 posted on 11/23/2001 1:52:11 PM PST by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Keeping students ignorant of American history and the history and literature of Western Civilization is part of the plan for public school students. Diversity and multiculturism rule in today's public schools and in some private and Christian ones also. One hope: Association of Classical and Christian Schools, "Well-Trained Mind" (literature and history-based curriculum), and homeschoolers who utilize other classical curricula.
15 posted on 11/23/2001 2:08:34 PM PST by bettina0
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To: yankeedame
I guess that explains a lot of things, doesn't it?
16 posted on 11/23/2001 2:10:24 PM PST by Patria One
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To: yankeedame
Maybe that is why all these fools in other countries keep saying, "Americans won`t fight". Maybe they went to these schools of higher learning. If you want to check the real history of America you will find that 'fight' is what we do the most of, and are the best at. This is a direct carry over from Europe. However now days it seems that Europe would rather kiss A@@ than fight. It is a good thing for the West that we Americans are still cowboys at heart.
17 posted on 11/23/2001 2:20:55 PM PST by vladog
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To: RaceBannon
Oberlin, Carleton and Grinnell have been among the most left-wing colleges in the U.S. for many decades. I graduated in 1977. Required courses included four semesters of World Civilization (aka "humanities," mostly history, art, music), one semester of U.S. History and one of American Government - and I was a Spanish major. Of course, I didn't go to a "top college," just one where we actually were expected to learn something.
18 posted on 11/23/2001 2:31:47 PM PST by mountaineer
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To: bettina0
Yeah. There's an agenda involved. One of the difficulties is organizing conservatives in realistic institutional configurations. Liberal junkthought is annoying enough. The cabals manipulating higher, secondary, and primary education are quite well-established and their bureaucratic machinery is hard to fight against. Quite amazing actually in its Machiavellian and totalitarian aspects.
19 posted on 11/23/2001 2:37:34 PM PST by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: mountaineer
Duke University suprises me on that though. But then again considering the majority of the student population, I guess it doesn't. I was accepted at Duke but after looking at not only the price tag but the students as well I decided to go to another university (NC State). Had a few friends attend there and visited them on the weekends, made me thankful everytime I left
20 posted on 11/23/2001 2:39:02 PM PST by billbears
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