Teacher's Lounge Archives

American Enterprise Institute: Why Students Hate History

by Bruce Craig

On October 1, 2002 the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) conducted a forum, "Why Is U.S. History Still a Mystery to Our Children? And What Should They Know About America's Past?" AEI senior fellow Lynne V. Cheney moderated a panel discussion that included Wilfred McClay (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), Jesus Garcia (University of Kentucky and incoming President of the National Council for the Social Studies), Peter Gib

Should Tenure Be Changed?

In the September edition of"Perspectives," the monthly newsletter of the American Historical Association, AHA president Lynn Hunt suggests that tenure be reexamined. She suggests, to begin with, that tenure be limited perhaps to 35 or 40 years."Why," she asks, should our right to work be guaranteed for life," especially when so many young historians are out of work? She adds: Until rece

Memories: September 11 Digital Archive

by Tom Scheinfeldt

As I finish setting up for the meeting I dial Nancy, my fiancée, on the cell phone. We always try to speak just before I start teaching a seminar because we know it will be hard to connect during the day. I look at my watch and note that it is about 8:45. As the phone is ringing, I hear what sounds like a low flying airplane outside. I remark to myself, out loud, "that's

9/11

by Bruce Craig

Classroom Lesson Plans: Teaching About 9-11Dr. Craig was formerly the director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History. He now teaches at the University of Prince Edward Island.Editor: In addition to the sites listed below, teachers may want to consult http://911digitalarchive.org/stories/, which is sponsored by the Center for History & New Media at George Mason University and the American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning at CUNY. This site features a large digital archive of individuals' stories about 9-11. Updated September 2011.HNN Reading List: Click here for a list of books that help put what happened on 9-11 in perspective.

The Test 12th Graders Flunked

by HNN Staff

Diane Ravitch famously asked, years ago,"What do our 17 year olds know"? Judging by new test results released on May 9 by the National Center for Education Statistics the answer remains: not much. Researchers surveyed some 23,000 students in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades at over a thousand schools (both public and private) in 2001. Below is a list of sample U.S. history questions most 12th graders miss

Now Clinton's History: Building a Course Around His Presidency

by Lewis Gould

A Presidential Course at a Presidential Library? It Worked for Lyndon Johnson at the LBJ Library and It Can Work for Bill Clinton at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This past week's announcement that Professor Margaret Scranton of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will offer a course on the presidency of Bill Clinton beginning next January has attracted a good deal of press commentary. Much of i

Getting Students to Like History Is Not Impossible

by Cathy Gorn

The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics recently released the U.S. History National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), painfully pointing out that America is raising young people that, to an alarming degree, are historically illiterate. The report's findings (nearly unchanged from its last report in 1994), are neither new nor surprising, but they do reinforce what various r

What Do Our Students Know?

by Allan M. Winkler

What do our students know? As educators, we're interested in this question, and are always eager for whatever answers we can find. As historians, we're particularly concerned with what people know about the past. The report just released by the National Center for Education Statistics gives us some sense of student accomplishment. Some of the results are encouraging; others are not. I've been working as a consultant fo