Governor Blagojevich - Joins the History Major Wall of Shame

I like to keep track of the famous history majors - I figure it can be a recruiting tool for undergrads. It is a way of demonstrating that history majors can do more than teach. Someone with a major in history can go on to be a diplomat, business person, lawyer, sports star, or politician.

Of course, some history majors I'd rather not claim. Like the coach in my last post, who really misunderstood his professors' lectures on historical significance.

Even more shameful, however, is the fact that current Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was a history major. I think trying to 'auction' off a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder is enough to earn him a spot of the 'History Major Wall of Shame', especially because his actions don't indicate that he learned much from his historical studies.

Some of you may want to quibble with me on this point. After all, Illinois and Chicago (in particular) has a long history of corrupt politicians and aldermen being bought by men like Al Capone. Many of these politicians, moreover, escaped justice. So it wouldn't be unimaginable for a student of history to assume that he too could get away with accepting and even soliciting bribes. But to demonstrate the importance continual revision of our historical knowledge and how paradigms shift in historiography, one of the more recent Governors of Illinois, George Ryan (who was a pharmacist - not a history major), was brought down by a corruption scandal.

So maybe, Blagojevich's problem was not that he didn't learn anything as a history major at Northwestern University, but rather that he stopped reading 20th century history after he got his B.A.

Basketball Coach blames his history major for his team's loss!

Jimmy Patsos the coach of Loyola, MD's men's basketball team lost to Davidson College yesterday because he had his players double team the leading scorer in the nation, Stephen Curry. While the strategy prevented Curry from scoring a single point, Loyola lost because the rest of the team had to play 3 on 4.

When asked why he stuck to a strategy that was obviously not going to win his team the game, coach Patsos replied: “We had to play against an NBA player tonight,” Patsos explained. “Anybody else ever hold him scoreless? I’m a history major. They’re going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30?”

I think Coach Patsos maybe didn't quite understand what his history profs were trying to teach him. I suspect that people will remember BOTH that Patsos held Curry to 0, but that Loyola STILL lost. There is a lesson to be learned here, and I doubt it's the one Patsos hoped it would be.

Curry gets 0, Davidson routs Loyola (Md.) 78-48 - College Basketball - Rivals.com

Christmas Shopping for the Historian

Tired of buying the historian in your life some heavy book that no on else in the family would ever be tempted to read? Perhaps you'd be tempted to purchase a present that can be enjoyed by young and old, historian and people who like interesting things, alike. I am, of course, referring to the Forgotten Presidents Puppet Set.

The present that is not only educational, but also hours of fun for the entire family.

Professorial Influence

Damn. Academics already don't have any influence over public policy, popular culture, or even educational matters. Now you are telling me - we don't even impact our students' political choices?!?

Actually, I'm not that surprised. I try to keep my students guessing about my political leanings - so even if they wanted to vote like me they might not be able to figure out my choices. Besides by teaching American foreign policy, I'm always critizing Republicans and Democrats alike. If anything, my classes probably think I'm unAmerican, as opposed to an adherent of one political party over another. Still it is kind of depressing to see how little impact we have on impressional young minds. Perhaps the only thing we are good far is teaching critical thinking skills.

You can read the NYT story here: Professors’ Liberalism Contagious? Maybe Not - NYTimes.com

The Last Barrier

I am excited to see the U.S. take a historic stance and break down the racial barrier to the presidency. It was in 1870 that the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was passed - the amendment that made it illegal to bar someone from voting based on their race.

Now only one barrier is left - the gender barrier. It took fifty years after the passage of the 15th Amendment for the 19th Amendment to be passed. This was the amendment that allowed women to vote -- black and white women. I don't want to turn my eyes to the future too soon, but I sure hope it doesn't take another fifty years before the first woman attains the presidency.

Why we vote on Tuesday... and other election fun facts

Hint: It has to do with farmers

I voted last week... but I saved my sticker for today. Can't wait to watch the returns tonight.

How I Know This Isn't the Next Great Depression

If I read another news story referring to the current financial mess as the next Great Depression I am seriously going to throw something -- perhaps my copy of David Kennedy's Freedom from Fear. Just this morning I read "A Lesson Rooted in the Great Depression" in the International Herald Tribune, which starts out with the line - "Will future historians write about the Great Depression of the 2000s as they did about the one in the 1930s?" In the last hour 36 news stories referencing the Great Depression have been posted online.

If all these news analysts are suggesting that the current market crisis could lead us into another Great Depression it must be true, right?

Maybe... 1. if the Great Depression was only about the 1929 Stock Market Crash and 2. if a little something know as the 'New Deal' hadn't occurred.

However, the Great Depression was much more than the collapse of the stock market and the banking crisis that followed it. It also was a time of fundamental weakness in the agriculture sector and the loss of job and pay/hours cut-backs in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, since there was no 'safety net' provided for the American government to protect Americans who fell on hard economic times, people began to lose their homes and go hungry.

While the current financial situation might lead to a general meltdown of the economy, there won't be the same social disruption for families that Americans faced in the 1930s because the New Deal put some protections in place for U.S. citizens. Protections like government insurance of saving deposits, unemployment insurance, the welfare system, and farm subsidies all prevent the American people from fall as far as they did in the 1930s.

So no matter how bad the U.S. economy becomes, at least we can take comfort in the fact that it will not turn into another Great Depression.

10 Tips for Taking Excellent Lecture Notes

Great article in U.S. News about note taking. I really think this is a lost art. Even though I warn my students ever semester that they need to take notes and that I don't lecture straight from the textbook (so they shouldn't try to just read it before exams), I still have kids in class who don't take notes. They just sit there and listen. The listening is good, but it is not enough on its own. At some point people are going to need to review. Moreover, reviewing what I've lectured on in class is going to be helpful when students are trying to figure out what I expect to see come exam time.

10 Tips for Taking Excellent Lecture Notes - Professors' Guide (usnews.com)

The Evolution of the College Dorm

Time Magazine has an interesting photo essay on the history of dorm life. I remember in undergrad how great I thought my dorm room was because it had a bathroom that only 3 other girls had to share, especially because the other dorm on campus had a only one large bathroom on every floor of the building.

Things are even sweeter for students today. The most recent dorm built on my campus is like a mini apartments where the students get their own room and share a living room/kitchen/bath with 2 other people. Not surprisingly there is a waiting list to get into the new dorm.

I can't help but wonder, however, if giving students so much privacy is good for the college community. Part of being a college student is learning about to co-exist with others, even those with radically different viewpoints, lifestyles. Isn't making dorm life so non-interactive really doing a disserve to students? Will have to figure out on the job site how to get along with others? Could there be a surge in the divorce rate among college graduates if they don't share a room with another human being until marriage?

I do hope that college's are creating a generation of self-centered and ego-driven people by making dorm life so comfortable for them.

The Evolution of the College Dorm - Photo Essays - TIME

We have to catch up to history...

In John McCain's acceptance speech tonight, he was talking about the need for change throughout the country because so many of our economic, educational, and health care policies had been developed during the post-World War II era. Therefore, what we need to do according to McCain is to "catch up to history."

Huh?

How the heck is the present supposed to catch up to past?! Does he have an unregistered time-turner? I understand what he is trying to say, but isn't there a better way to state this?

Things did look up toward the end of the speech, when McCain stated: "I don't believe that history has anointed me to save our country in our hour of need..." I only wish, he'd ended that statement by saying: "because history isn't a person and therefore can't 'appoint' anybody."

Tuition Hikes and Federal Oversight

I'm pretty much against all federal interference with colleges. I'd hate to see some kind of 'no child left behind policy' forced onto institutions of higher education. However, I do like the idea of access to information about colleges - especially tuition hikes - being made easily accessible.

Prospective students and their parents should know the average rate that college tuition increases each year and they should also know whether or not the tuition increases at their college is above average. Let's face it the only thing that makes colleges behave tuition-wise is if it hits their enrollment/retention numbers and there is a better chance of that happening if there is easily accessible information about this online.

Less affordable colleges may get 'F,' land on Wall of Shame - USATODAY.com

Famous History Majors

Add Chelsea Clinton to your list of famous history majors.

Apparently, she started out at Stanford as a Chemistry Major and then switched to history. Ah... if I had a dollar for every failed science major at my school who ended up switching to history I'd probably be able to buy a really nice pair of sneakers.

Funniest Onion Article of All Time??

Cheney Waits Until Last Minute Again To Buy Sept. 11 Gifts

My favorite line in the article is: "Although Cheney himself has never received any Sept. 11 gifts, with the exception of a pair of silk pajamas from his wife and a second term in office..."

Obama falls into the history trap

I enjoyed Obama's speech last night up until he fell into the trap so common for politicians -- that of personifying 'history' and suggesting that it has the ability to teach or judge.

Obama said in his acceptance speech: "You have shown what history teaches us, that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington."

No, no, no! Historians teach us. History just is.

Who did Harding endorse?

Can't wait to see how often the "history card" get played in this presidential election.

To Apply or Not To Apply

So my undergraduate university is hiring a historian. It is a position I could apply for. In fact I did apply for it 3 years ago and got a phone interview - but the position ended up getting cancelled. But I'm in a slightly different place in my life now.

1. Have gotten tenure.
2. Bought a house.
3. Divorce is finalized (and I've realized I can do all the parenting-type things alone without having my parents nearby).
4. Took on a small administrative role, which has lowered my teaching load a bit.
5. The job description does not EXACTLY fit what I've been doing/teaching for the 9 years. About 1/2 the job is teaching in my minor area, which I've done before but it was a LONG time ago.

I guess this is all reasons for NOT applying.

On the pro-applying side. I'm a bit worried about where my current institution is headed. Some of the decisions they've made lately were ill-advised and I haven't seen much effort to fix it. I would be in the same town as my extended family - and although I don't NEED to be that close, it would be nice for the kids to be around their cousins and grandparents. And well, who hasn't dreamed about teaching at the ol' alma mater?

Any advice?

2008 History AP Exams

I graded history ap exams last month and the document question was on the war in Vietnam. Some of the amusing answers that I read include:

• The men sent to Vietnam had no intention of succeeding or returning home. This was a major strategy problem for the U.S. military.
• Before the Gulf of Tonkin resolution there was an incident known as the sinking of the Lusitania.
• The Vietnam War followed great foreign policy traditions such as Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, and Eisenhower's Annex to the Monroe Doctrine.

Fun stuff!

Professors Who Assign Their Own Books

The University of Utah has just come up with a policy passed by both the faculty and the administration that prohibits its faculty from collecting royalties if they assign their own books to the classes they are teaching. This policy is supposed to help assure students that s professor has assigned a book because it is the best in the field or covers a topic in a particularly important way, rather than because the prof. can make money from it. Utah Policy Would Restrict Profs' Royalties From Books - The Paper Trail (usnews.com)

During all my time in graduate school, only one professor ever assigned his own books to the class. I never suspected he was doing it for the royalties, but at the same time I never thought the books were particularly ground-breaking. One of my other graduate school professors argued against profs assigning their own books stating that you should be getting the professor's view on subject of the book from lectures/discussion and reading the books written by that same instructor did not expose students enough to varying viewpoints of a topic.

I probably lean toward the profs shouldn't assign their own books camp, but I don't think it is that much of an issues. I do, however, believe that the University of Utah's policy overlooks the fact that profs can make $$ off of their classes without assigning their own books. I remember several years ago a publisher offered some history faculty members around $1500 if they would 'review' a textbook and assign it to their classes so they could get student input as well. So even though the Utah policy cuts down the ability of profs to earn a little more money, at the same time it leaves untouched an entirely different method for profs to each cash off the backs of their students.

I'd Like to Exchange My Liberal Arts Degree for Something Useful

Just read a letter (probably fake - but still funny) from an Arizona State University alumni with a B.A. in English, who wanted either a refund for his defective product - which has failed to get him respect or a job - or wanted to exchange his B.A. for a useful degree like a B.S. in science or an MBA.

I quite often get asked what our history majors do with their degrees. Old stand-bys like: go into public history, teach h.s., go to graduate school or law school, work in media/journalism are easy enough to discuss. However, most of our graduates probably end up in the business world and they soon discover that they aren't so unique because many of their colleagues also have B.A. degrees.

In fact, my department chair just did a survey of Fortune 500 Companies and discovered that at least six of the Top 100 CEOs of had been a history major as an undergraduate. This far surpassed the number of humanities/social science majors represented in the study. So while I don't know exactly how useful a B.A. is in English, I think that the B.A. in history can provide a firm foundation for a career in many different areas of employment.

Here are the six Top CEOs with history majors:

Samuel Palmisano, IBM
John Mack, Morgan Stanley
Alan Lafley, Procter & Gamble
Richard Parsons, Time Warner
Kenneth Chenault, American Express
John Faraci, International Paper

Chris Rock and American History

So I'm watching the Chris Rock comedy special (apparently first out in 2004) and he is telling jokes about the lasting consequences of slavery, but all I can think about is how many questions I'm going to get in my survey class next semester about whether or not slaves who could read got killed.

Watch the Chris Rock history lesson on youtube.com.

Is it good or bad when popular actors/comedians, etc. talk about American history?