5. Are Colleges Encouraging Students to Take Enough Courses about America’s History and Institutions and Then Assessing the Quality of These Courses?
The average senior surveyed had completed only four courses in the combined subject areas of history, political science, and economics. At seven colleges—Princeton, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Washington, Wheaton, Wisconsin, and Rochester—most seniors had not completed even one American history course.
At some schools, students’ knowledge about America increased significantly with each seemingly relevant course completed. At others, it increased little or decreased. Obviously, the civiclearning deficiency has different causes at different schools.
At a minimum, the data suggest colleges ought to be asking about both the quantity and quality of available or required history, political science, and economics courses. Given that students typically complete about 40 courses in attaining a bachelor’s degree, are they being encouraged to take enough courses about America’s history and institutions? Are colleges offering the right courses?
Because it provides a statistically valid assessment of what students actually learn at surveyed schools, ISI’s American civic literacy survey provides a valuable starting point for those seriously interested in improving education about America’s heritage. Schools committed to advancing this cause should consider publicly releasing their own internal assessments of student learning.
