LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: THE REPORTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY'S DEMISE ARE GREATLY EXAGERATED

To The Editor:

I would like to respond to recent articles that you have printed about course offerings in American history at Southeast Missouri State University. These occurred in Mark Bliss's front-page article on Sunday, January 30 and in a letter to the editor from Charles Woodford on Saturday, February 5.

First, let me declare that American history is alive and well at Southeast, and that the study of American civilization is thoroughly embedded in our curriculum. In the current semester there are 11 different courses (a total of 34 class sections) being offered by the Department of History that deal with American (United States) history in a significant way. These courses are all open to any Southeast student. Mr. Woodford's claim that "the University has restricted American History to history majors and minors and offers only one class per semester" is simply false. While the traditional U.S. History courses are not part of the "University Studies" general education curriculum required of all students, these courses are open to all students. And his claim that all students are officially prohibited from taking basic history classes (presumably in American history) is also wrong. He could have found out the facts with a phone call to my office.

During this semester there are another dozen courses offered by different departments on American art, literature, mass media, music, philosophy, and religion. Also, in political science there are 17 sections at the introductory level dealing with the U.S. Constitution, 2 classes in Missouri government, and 5 other courses dealing with American public policy, foreign policy, Constitutional law, the modern Presidency, and early American political thought. The details of the course requirements for all of these courses are on file in departmental offices and available for review, and are reviewed systematically by the departments and by representatives of both state and national accrediting agencies.

The January 30 article's headline, "History Professors Question University Curriculum," was misleading, suggesting that members of the Department of History were protesting a change in the university curriculum which had been approved in 1986 and implemented in 1988. There is no such protest, although some historians would like to see students taking more history courses, but the same can be said for faculty in other disciplines that contribute to teaching the general education "University Studies" program.

The change in the general education requirements was away from repetitions of U.S. history and Western civilization courses to focus on students' ability to understand the "Development of a Major Civilization." We assume that high school graduates have background in American history. We want students to have the intellectual skills needed for understanding a civilization, and offer options in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, African, American, Chinese, Islamic, and Latin American civilizations. Even with this range of choice, 2,440 students have taken the American Civilization course in the past two years, which is two-thirds of the total enrollments in civilization courses. All teacher education students are required to take American Civilization, and those seeking certification and majoring in Social Studies take United States History and a non-Western civilization course.

Mr. Woodford contends that the American Civilization course contains a "smattering" of history. I doubt that he has read the syllabus for that course. American Civilization is very much an American history course and is taught by the same members of the department who taught the American History courses under the former general education program. Students learn about the events, ideas and turning points that have molded the U.S. into the world's predominant civilization.

Southeast is a state-supported agency and complies with state laws, and moreover, we faculty are as interested as Mr. Woodford and his Americanism Committee in upholding the spirit as well as the letter of the laws. I invite him, and anyone else genuinely concerned about the future of our nation, to become informed directly about what we are teaching, and not to rely on selective newspaper reporting which may not delve very deeply into what is actually happening.

As an historian, I agree that it is unfortunate that students are not required to take more history. We all should want to know more about our world and our country. As educated people we should also want to know more about science, economics, etc. The reality is that we learn one article, one book, one lecture or one course at a time. We learn about ourselves and our world, often in situations totally unrelated to a particular discipline. The learning processes, such as critical thinking or how to locate and gather necessary information, that are a major component of the University Studies Program are a means to achieve that end. Our common goal is the creation of productive, thoughtful citizens, and I think the University is serving the taxpayers of Missouri extremely well in that regard.

ALBERTA MACKE DOUGAN

Professor and Chair

Department of History

Southeast Missouri State University