New study finds American history college courses amplify divisive moments while ignoring positive actions

A new report found higher education fails to teach the basics of American history, instead focusing on the moments that divide Americans while spending little time on prosperity and unity.

"I think to not study that is to not learn how to be an American. And if you have no basic roots, if you have no sense of identity, you then become sort of like a leaf in the wind," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is one of the commissioners for the study, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. The other commissioners were former Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., and former Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla.

The report, directed by Arizona State University (ASU) professor Donald T. Critchlow, shows many introductory American history courses at universities across the country are not conveying basic knowledge to their students.

Critchlow said that even though the Constitution was being discussed in some classes, it wasn't necessarily being discussed positively.

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"Only two class periods on average were being given to the study of the Constitution or its ratification. But that doesn't necessarily mean that those class periods were painting the Constitution in the formation of our exceptional nation in a positive way," Critchlow, who directs ASU’s Center of American Institutions, said. "Indeed, many of these courses spent an inordinate amount of time on the Constitution as an exclusionary document. So they pointed to the exclusion of women and Blacks."

The year-long research project surveyed syllabi for introductory courses in American history at large and small institutions in public and private schools. These syllabi were available to the public. 

Per the report, an objective analysis was provided through a survey of 36 syllabi for the first half of the introduction to American history from settlement to 1877, and 39 syllabi for the second half of introduction to American history from 1877 to the present.

Syllabi for the first half of the introductory courses were chosen from the top-ranked 150 universities in a 2022 survey by U.S. News & World Report. 

"For analysis of the second half of introductory courses we expanded our research parameters to include more public universities," the report states.

Among the syllabi that were reviewed, only one syllabus mentioned American exceptionalism. Furthermore, research found that very few students learned about Yalta, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, or the Paris Peace Accords that ended the Vietnam War.

Other research findings revealed that the use of identity-focused terms such as White supremacy, diversity, and equity are often incorporated in American history introductory courses. There was an emphasis on identity-focused topics such as race, gender, sexuality, and sexual identity.

"Anti-market bias is expressed through an emphasis on exploitation and oppression of workers, derision of consumerism, and persistence of inequity without an examination of actual economic data," according to the study.

According to a quantitative analysis, 80% of courses spent two class periods or less on the writing, ratification, and content of the Constitution and 11% of classes did not cover the drafting of the Constitution in Philadelphia.

Critchlow said the "shocking" findings in the report warrant a reformation of the university system.

"I think the report will shock many people just how extensive and distorted American history is being taught today to our college students. And we know why this is important for our nation and for creation of a nation with shared values," Critchlow said. "The more important, the equally important question, what is to be done about it?… So we need a reformation at our universities."

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Gingrich said, "Any random stupid idea can seem equally important. And that's the nature of most of our college campuses today." 

The report featured recommendations from the commissioners based on the findings such as providing transparency in the college curriculum, ending the tenure system for professors, and promoting diverse ideas.

One of the recommendations includes state legislators and boards of regents mandating that each academic unit within a college or university post syllabi of courses online.

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They also recommend that teachers should be evaluated solely on teaching and research outcomes. 

Gingrich predicted there would be a "deep public desire" to overhaul the university system due to the current political climate on college campuses.

He proposed a solution to develop a guideline for parents, students, and the Board of Regents to distinguish between anti-American history departments and American history departments because the objective reality is that a "great number of the dominant force in the academic world today is anti-American and anti-Western civilization."

"I think that the reaction to the pro-terrorist activities on the campuses and the degree to which those pro-terrorist activities are being translated into overt anti-Jewish behaviors, including threatening people in a way that literally resembles the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s. And Jewish Americans I talked to for the first time in their lives are frightened, telling their children don't wear a Star of David on campus. It makes you a target," he said. 

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"I think all of that is going to lead to a public awareness that there is something very sick about our academic system; when you combine the absolute lack of performance in many of our inner city schools with the absolute dishonesty of what's being taught in many of our best universities," Gingrich continued. "I think that there will be a very deep public desire to profoundly overhaul the system and get back to one which is both productive and pro-American."

ASU's Center for American Institutions launched in 2022 with a mission to "foster and renew respect for foundational American institutions through undergraduate education and public outreach."

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