Educating Dangerously: How History is Being Mistaught in US Universities

Professor KC Johnson, of Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate School, kicks off Uncomfortable Learning at Williams College with a talk on how history education has changed in the past few decades. History departments have traded a focus on rigorous, document based research on the military, diplomacy, and grand figures for an emphasis on race, class and gender. Professor Johnson explains how many of those trends have developed, the impact of those changes, and what can be done to improve universities and better prepare students.

[@SmokyMcBear]

Previous comment was somewhat curt, I do want to say I appreciate the analysis and the work of Professor Johnson here, and his willingness to speak against the popular zeitgeist.

[@EdGloss]

I'm a social studies teacher in NYC trained at Brooklyn College by Professor Johnson under whom I wrote my thesis.

[@brooklynspeaks5716]

He says his parents are not rich; who cares? Anyone would be content to live in a ditch with him -- happily!

[@dks13827]

How do we recover our country ? I would not have kids if I were age 25 now.

[@florinivan6907]

I can understand the decline of military history post-Vietnam even if I disagree. Its funny to think that if you want to be a military historian in the US you either choose a southern university or go abroad the UK maybe Canada but not California. Its far less tolerable to have a decline in constitutional and legal history though.The US has always prided itself on being a nation of laws for better or worse. More lawyers than in any other country including more than half of all US presidents. Better yet how can you claim to be able to talk about racial issues which are in vogue if you're 'legally' illiterate?The race issue is tied to the legal and constitutional evolution of the US. You cannot separate the two.