What is the role of Education in History? Is it critical thinking first and foremost or something else?

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 18:17:41 -0400

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/

Wilfred M. McClay is the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Professor in the History of Liberty at the University of Oklahoma. He has also taught at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tulane University, Georgetown University, and Pepperdine University, and he served for eleven years as a member of the National Council on the Humanities. His books include The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America, The Student’s Guide to U.S. History, and Figures in the Carpet: Finding the Human Person in the American Past. He received his Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University.

"The chief purpose of a high school education in American history is not the development of critical thinking and analytic skills, although the acquisition of such skills is vitally important; nor is it the mastery of facts, although a solid grasp of the factual basis of American history is surely essential; nor is it the acquisition of a genuine historical consciousness, although that certainly would be nice to have too, particularly under the present circumstances, in which historical memory seems to run at about 15 minutes, especially with the young.

No, the chief purpose of a high school education in American history is as a rite of civic membership, an act of inculcation and formation, a way in which the young are introduced to the fullness of their political and cultural inheritance as Americans, enabling them to become literate and conversant in its many features, and to appropriate fully all that it has to offer them, both its privileges and its burdens. To make its stories theirs, and thereby let them come into possession of the common treasure of its cultural life."

My take is that all successful endeavors require certain inherent core beliefs. To be continually arguing over every single aspect in minutia, how about agreeing to the preservation of what unites us all. Yes, we have burdened minorities at certain times but this theme is not exclusive to this country.

IMHO, we need to pull the baby out of the bathwater while there still is time to do so. Being aware that even ISIS has a game plan of sorts and we need that cohesiveness, not openly antagonistic rhetoric but a sense of America in it's unique place in the whole. Can we recapture that? Is there time?

PO2 Ed C. MSgt Private RallyPoint Member CSM Michael J. Uhlig MSG Floyd Williams Col Private RallyPoint Member @LTC MSG Wade Huffman CPT L S LTC Private RallyPoint Member LTC Stephen C. LTC Stephen F. TSgt Private RallyPoint Member SrA Matthew Knight PV2 Private RallyPoint Member 1SG Michael Blount PO2 Corey Ferretti Cpl Private RallyPoint Member Cpl Ray Fernandez

Imprimis | A monthly digest on liberty and the defense of America's founding principles

A monthly digest on liberty and the defense of America's founding principles

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Aug 14 at 2015 7:54 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 19:54:00 -0400

Funny you should ask... I was rather surprised by McClay's argument. What McClay describes iss exactly what's wrong ever since the Left appropriated American schools as institutions of propaganda rather than education so that today, our children are being indoctrinated into accepting history as a set of beliefs supporting the Leftist ideology rather than critically thinking about our past. It's the first time that I find myself seriously at odds with something published by Hillsdale.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Aug 14 at 2015 8:53 PM

SN Greg Wright — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 20:53:42 -0400

The single best thing that could possibly happen in the Middle East is for the female population to become educated and empowered. As it stands, the men have no accountability to the women. None. But educate them, empower them, and suddenly poor behavior is being met with a night or ten on the couch. Things would change fast then.

So my answer? Education is -everything-.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Aug 14 at 2015 9:16 PM

Capt Richard I P. — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 21:16:06 -0400

Dan Carlin did a very good show on this. "Controlling the Past
http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sense-home-landing-page/
http://traffic.libsyn.com/dancarlin/cswdcc81.mp3

Response by MSgt Robert Pellam made Aug 14 at 2015 10:58 PM

MSgt Robert Pellam — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 22:58:01 -0400

I agree with McClay as High School History is setting a foundation. You learn some stuff from your environment but most comes from High School to some degree. My Love of History stems from my 10th grade History Teacher. He said a picture is worth a 1000 words, and in History that is very true. The class was a lot of facts, but it was how he taught it that stuck with me.

Being retired and relearning History again gives me a whole new appreciation for it. Most of the Kids in high school don't realize the History they are being taught is biased. And honestly most don't care. I started back to school right after I retired, and my first class was an Early world History, class. This beginning of this class talked about the first civilizations, the Mesopotamian area, and covered most of the Middle East. Some of these kids didn't know where that was. Thankfully the Professor was prepared and had Geography quizes to keep people on their toes. But honestly, all I heard through that class was, "I am glad this is my only history class".

TO me that is sad. While History is bias depending on the telling, you can always find the facts in books and source material and make up your own mind through critical thinking and rational thoughts. Of all the subjects in liberal arts, i believe history teaches rational critical thinking the best. At least.. that is my opinion.

Response by Cpl Chris Rice made Aug 14 at 2015 11:05 PM

Cpl Chris Rice — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 23:05:49 -0400

I think that you are conflating what high school history classes are teaching, and what you are seeing on the news which is particularly troubling to yourself. For example just because you feel that the news is only speaking about minority issues in our country, and often citing historical precedents and/or events is not necessarily a sign that our high school and elementary levels of education have gone to only teaching about minority struggles in our country. My biggest problem of what the original poster, and the person that he quoted stated was that they both want history class to be about something other than history, and the quoted professor is speaking about a civics class (I don’t think he knows that), and the original poster is speaking about propaganda when he states the history class your focus on what unites us; for example American exceptionalism.

History class really must focus on history, and with our growing minority population asking about their own roots within the American community is fully expected that more of our history is going to be about their stories; once again more does not equal all, neither in theory nor reality. It is my opinion the history class must provide a fundamental knowledge that allows individuals to function as citizens when considering future events in historical context. I am definitely not interested in hearing the critical thinking ideas of a 14-year-old on historical events, as we’ve seen on rally point alone at least one discussion about a high schooler who received a passing grade for a critical thinking paper where they argued that the Holocaust never happened. If you have time to write critical thinking papers about the Holocaust, you should consider using that time more wisely to better teach history. My biggest problem with the critical thinking movement within high school education is that we are raising a generation of dumb asses who are good at arguing, we already have enough of them.

Response by Sgt Tom Cunnally made Aug 15 at 2015 4:04 PM

Sgt Tom Cunnally — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 16:04:18 -0400

What is the role of education in history?? I don't think it is critical thinking because our schools are not graduating students with strong backgrounds in Math, and Sciences in the same numbers as some other countries are.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Aug 15 at 2015 5:12 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 17:12:37 -0400

First I want say education is an amalgamation of ideas, processes, inventions, creations, and knowledge which started in antiquity and is being augmented as we speak. For the most part High School is a great glossing over many subjects. Hmmmm what happened in WWII that I can remember, oh yes, the U.S. defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan.

College is a mixed bag of glossing and critical thinking. It is the case that a major in college will require you drill down the surface and endeavor to utilize critical thinking. It is here wh,ere I learned the principles of investing: Time value of money, compound interest, diversification, different investment vehicles, opportunity cost, stock markets, and risk/reward relationships.

I will make the claim that those who endeavor in an avocation will need to conduct very deep critical thinking for the professionals, technical workers, and the military. I was a nerdy tank 2LT who strived to maneuver and fire his platoon, and the US Military doctrine was Air Land and Sea. Professional development gave me broader understanding and critical thinking has given me a deeper understand. I will use the British for example. They fought insurgencies with Regiments and a much smaller army. They did not focus on rebuilding the country but worked diligently setting up security. They paired up with the locals to operate and live in the lands of the insurgents, and copied their fighting styles.

I will probably have to edit later lol