David McCullough Admiration Society

Taking a one-posting break from business and finance blogging to talk about something I love and enjoy-- history.  I have a passion and appreciation for both US and European history, and in many ways, it is that connection with the past and caring about people and comparing what life was like then vs now, which allows this blog to express such concern for others.  Along with it, the desire to communicate on 'academically' dull and crusty dry topics as stock markets, economic stats and IMF without putting most to sleep.

A study was released this week in the US by the Department of Education called the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress, in which it found that only 20% of fourth graders and 12% of high-school seniors have a true understanding of US history.  That is pathetic.

This weekend, WSJ conducted an interview with author and historian David McCullough, author of many wonderful books including 'John Adams', 'Truman' and '1776', as well as providing the announcer voice for Ken Burns' "The Civil War" and "Baseball" among others...   I thought his views on the current state of history and how it is taught in US school was quite interesting and I agreed.

For those interested in the subject, ere are some excerpts from the WSJ article, which you can read in its entirety by clicking the following link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576369421525987128.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

"Mr. McCullough began worrying about the history gap some 20 years ago, when a college sophomore approached him after an appearance at "a very good university in the Midwest." She thanked him for coming and admitted, "Until I heard your talk this morning, I never realized the original 13 colonies were all on the East Coast." Remembering the incident, Mr. McCullough's snow-white eyebrows curl in pain. "I thought, 'What have we been doing so wrong that this obviously bright young woman could get this far and not know that?'"...


"History is a source of strength," he says. "It sets higher standards for all of us." But helping to ensure that the next generation measures up, he says, will be a daunting task.

One problem is personnel. "People who come out of college with a degree in education and not a degree in a subject are severely handicapped in their capacity to teach effectively," Mr. McCullough argues. "Because they're often assigned to teach subjects about which they know little or nothing." The great teachers love what they're teaching, he says, and "you can't love something you don't know anymore than you can love someone you don't know."

Another problem is method. "History is often taught in categories—women's history, African American history, environmental history—so that many of the students have no sense of chronology. They have no idea what followed what."

What's more, many textbooks have become "so politically correct as to be comic. Very minor characters that are currently fashionable are given considerable space, whereas people of major consequence farther back"—such as, say, Thomas Edison—"are given very little space or none at all."

Mr. McCullough's eyebrows leap at his final point: "And they're so badly written. They're boring! Historians are never required to write for people other than historians." Yet he also adds quickly, "Most of them are doing excellent work. I draw on their excellent work. I admire some of them more than anybody I know. But, by and large, they haven't learned to write very well.""

~ He's absolutely right-  History is too specialized, too politically correct and taught by people generally who have no emotional connection to the topic.  Most of my history teachers during my high school days were nothing more than assistant football or basketball coaches who were legally required to teach something in order to fulfill their athletic coaching pursuits. And in college, both in history and other academic fields, the classes weren't taught by Professors but by Grad students and Assistants.  Much cheaper for the university that way...

The entire WSJ article is interesting to read.  Almost as interesting as Mr. McCullough's books.  He has a new book out called "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris" which I have yet to read but looks interesting.  He talks about it in WSJ.   Once again, click below to read the article in its entirety:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576369421525987128.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read