"The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know." This is a famous quotation from the thirty-third President of the United States. Self-taught, bookish, and a lover of history (especially the rise and fall of Ancient Rome), Harry S. Truman placed a premium on the inherited wisdom of the ages. Ironically, many of the most significant historical events of the twentieth century came to pass under his watch.

Philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist George Santayana notoriously claimed, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." He saw the good in civil society thoroughly acquainting itself with the lessons of past.

As evidenced by the lack of basic historical knowledge of American college STUDENTS, contemporary educators and administrators in higher education DO NOT value history, or American civics of any kind, for that matter. In ISI’s civic literacy report, "Failing Our Student’s, Failing America," the Institute tested 14,000 randomly selected freshman and seniors at 50 colleges in the areas of American history, government, international relations, and economics. The results were staggering http://www.civicliteracy.org/.

If this phenomenon is of interest to you, I implore you to read Lt. General Josiah Bunting III’s editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle, "College Students Unlearn U.S. History as they are in School Longer."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/1...L&feed=rss.education

Test YOUR civic knowledge! Take the sixty-question, multiple choice quiz found below (the very test that served as the basis for ISI’s civic literacy report):

http://www.civicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Ken,

As a graduate student, I have to say that I fear for our future. Students are increasingly coming to history classes wanting everything handed to them and done for them so they do not have to do any work. Professors are too focused on their niches to effectively teach the subject and constantly encourage their grad. students to look for institutions that allow them to further pigeon-hole themselves into a mundane area of research. I am trying to fight this and keep my historical knowledge and interests (and research) broad, but face pressure to research in one area and become an expert in that area. Tell me, is it better to be an expert in one area, or have a good understanding of many areas? The longer I stay in the more frustrated I become with the discipline of history, as it is increasingly liberal and PC in its teaching and scholarship. The only thing that motivates me is the hope that I can one day secure a position and save some kid's education.

I would love to see ISI start an organization devoted to American history and history education. This group could produce a quality scholarly journal to counter the typically left-wing slants of most other professional journals and organizations in history. It could also serve as a publisher for conservative historians to get their research published (especially since history is a publish or perish market). Finally, such a group could help conservative historians connect with conservative or other schools seeking professors and teachers. I would love to talk more about this idea with you and anyone else at ISI, if you think this idea could work.

Your concerns are being addressed to some extent through the Lehrman Center at ISI.

Good point Ann, but I guess I see the Lehrman Center as focusing on civics, economic, and history and what I was thinking was something along the lines of a conservative historical organization modeled after the professional societies already out there that would serve conservative historians and provide them a solid, peer-reviewed history journal that would appeal to them. I do think ISI has an opportunity through ISI Books to serve young conservative historians by giving them a place to publish their research.

The primary focus of the Lehrman American Studies Center is to reinvigorate the teaching of our nation’s history to the next generation. LASC accomplishes this through a unique combination of programs including its flagship program, the Summer Institute, held each June in partnership with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. The program serves as the beginning of a lifelong connection to the great traditions America and more broadly, the West. In addition to stimulating conversations with the leading intellectuals of our day, the LASC provides the resources scholars need to effectively teach our country’s heritage and the means to develop new courses at their home institutions based on these founding principles. LASC fellows also have the opportunity to rub shoulders with editors from both academic journals (including a few peer-reviewed publications) and presses. Additionally, LASC facilitates panel discussions and hosts events during the national meetings of the major professional associations throughout the year.

For more information about the Lehrman American Studies Center, please visit http://lehrman.isi.org/