The Historical Profession Is Committing Slow-Motion Suicide

War on the Rocks ^ | December 10, 2018 | Hal Brands and Francis J. Gavin

[C19fan]

A recent study confirms a disturbing trend: American college students are abandoning the study of history. Since 2008, the number of students majoring in history in U.S. universities has dropped 30 percent, and history now accounts for a smaller share of all U.S. bachelor’s degrees than at any time since 1950. Although all humanities disciplines have suffered declining enrollments since 2008, none has fallen as far as history. And this decline in majors has been even steeper at elite, private universities — the very institutions that act as standard bearers and gate-keepers for the discipline. The study of history, it seems, is itself becoming a relic of the past.

It is tempting to blame this decline on relatively recent factors from outside the historical profession. There are more majors to choose from than in the past. As a broader segment of American society has pursued higher education, promising job prospects offered by other fields, from engineering to business, has no doubt played a role in history’s decline. Women have moved in disproportionate numbers away from the humanities and towards the social sciences. The lingering consequences of the Great Recession and the growing emphasis on STEM education have had their effects, as well.

[C19fan]

/src on/I am shocked students are turning away from a field where the bible for American History is Howard Zinn, and the professors are more interested in studying transsexual lesbian people of color prostitutes in Medieval Ghent./src off/

[BigEdLB]

They don’t teach history anymore. A history class is like a rally for Stalin in the old USSR

[Black Agnes]

Ping.

[Army Air Corps]

Many history departments have become another extension of the Social Justice Warrior garbage where the latest PC fad of the day is tarted-up with the trappings of the very discipline that it compromises.

[grania]

They're better off researching history on their own. Even that's getting tough, with revisionism and new priorities. Sociology and geography disappearing has had a negative impact, too. Those subjects taught people to recognize and respect cultural and national differences. Economics is not commonly studied, either. If it were, less people would succumb to a lifetime of financial servitude starting with those college loans. Civics and Problems of Democracy are all but gone, too.....with that disappears respect for the rule of law and understanding of our form of government and what we as citizens need to do to participate in a positive way. And, oh yeah, those life and vocational skills have bit the dust.

What a wonderful education is being provided....for the enslavement of 90% of the global population!

[equaviator]

If the future could have been seen then, our Greatest Generation may well have taken paths of less resistance than they did. Wouldn’t that be “ironic”?

[Dilbert San Diego]

Part of it also, could be that majoring in history does not lead to any sort of job or career path.

How many jobs do we ever see for history majors?

[Behind the Blue Wall]

‘Tis a sad state of affairs. Barely one percent of college students studying history, and of that, almost none of them will study basic questions of war and peace.

[BBQToadRibs]

There’s a lot of foot-in-the-door corporate positions they just look for a BA of any kind. I’m an Underwriter and the trainees we hire come from every possible BA background you can think of. You’re a step ahead if you have a business/finance/medical degree, but we assume you know nothing and train you every step of the way regardless of background.

[gunnyg]

Have ya heard the one bout Honest Abe???????

;(
Gunny G@PlanetWTF?
SemperTRUMP.45!
***************************

[Bayan]

Most of the current generation prefers making decisions based on emotion and knee jerk ideology instead of measured consideration of what has happened in the past. It’s why there are so many clueless idiots running around shooting their mouths off.

[GenXteacher]

Your options are pretty much the following: history teacher, museum guide, historical site guide, management at either of the previous two, archivist for a government or large and old corporation, adjunct instructor at the college level, professor at same, or move on to law school. It is not a field with a lot of openings.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yup, you are totally right about that.

I was a history major back in the 80’s when the faculty in my department started having a daily orgasm over Howard Zinn. By now the guy’s work has totally infected every history textbook available on this continent.

[econjack]

This is nothing new. When I was teaching econ, I typically had over 130 students in three classes. One history Full Prof had 4 students in three classes, and this was in the 1980’s. True, he was a bad teacher, but the university couldn’t fire him. However, some blame has to fall on the “feeder” institutions that are putting out students like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_pw8duzGUg

[2harddrive]

And THAT is why there is no FUTURE in History!

[Rinnwald]

Watch it, buddy. I’m a transsexual lesbian.

[Slyfox]

I graduated from a university which trains historians in the classical manner. Let me explain what that is. When a good historian does research, he will look at everything first before making any assumptions. This tactic is what a good detective does when looking at a crime scene. You are not supposed to jump to conclusions before all the information has been studied. To do so dirties up the crime scene and you end up with something you can't take to a court of law.

Good historians read everything and take their time to understand their result. The biggest crime an historian can make is to come up with the assumption first and gear everything to make their assumption the end result. That is like a detective going after one person when all the evidence points to someone else. Imagine how upset you would be if your favorite crime show began ignoring glaring evidence. You wouldn't trust them would you?

Lots of lawyers used to first graduate with a bachelors in history because it was the method that best trained a lawyer to do discovery. That was when academics had a more logical bent to it. Now not so much. Instead now subjectivity rules the day.

Now for my personal pet peeve - when they decided to change BC and AD to BCE and CE. WTH is that?

[PapaBear3625]

The pity is, there are lots of businesses who could use people who are trained historians.

What does a historian (as distinct from just a history major) do? He goes through piles of primary source documents (reports, letters, diary entries, memos) and distills the information down into an understandable narrative of “what happened, why it happened, who primarily made it happen, and what factors contributed to it happening”.

There are LOTS of business executives who would wish they had people on their staffs who could do that.

[JoeFromSidney]

I'm less concerned about people not majoring in history than I am about people in other majors being ignorant of history. I attended a good liberal arts school. I majored in physics, but was required to take a lot of liberal arts courses, including not only history but literature, economics, a foreign language, etc. I spent a career as an engineer. I'm grateful for all those non-technical courses I wouldn't have taken if they hadn't been required. As my high school English teacher used to say, a technical education teaches you how to make a living. A liberal education teaches you how to live. She was right.

[oldplayer]

I agree with BBQToadRibs. A rigorous study in any of the traditional humanities is a key indicator of a successful employee. The important words being “rigorous” and “traditional.”

There is simply no reason on earth a 4-year degree in a traditional humanities subject should cost $50,000 or more. What do you actually need to teach 20 students in a class, but books and a professor? Because it does cost so much, students look for degrees that offer reasonable paybacks rather than a reasonable education. Thank you University-Government complex and “free money” for student loans! s/