Three classes that should be required for college students

American Thinker ^ | 2 Oct, 2026 | Rhys Read

[MtnClimber]

Too many students are graduating with a college degree ignorant of this country and how it works. To remedy this, I would add three courses that should be required for graduation. These courses would go a long way toward curing the misinformation now being presented to many modern college graduates. We can add these requirements to the Illinois state schools as a minimum and as an example to the rest of the education establishment.

First, require microeconomics. No student should receive a college degree without at least a basic understanding of both the laws of supply and demand and the utility theory of value. Many students graduate believing Marx’s labor theory of value, which was debunked going back to the 19th century.

Second, students should know the basis of our country’s founding. This should include readings of John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, and The Federalist Papers, as well as study of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Adding Polybius’s chapter on the structure of the Roman Republic in the 2nd Century B.C. might provide additional insights into how the country’s government was originally structured. The University of Chicago used to require students to read Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, which would be another alternative.

Third, a class reviewing 20th-century socialism and the human tragedy it caused worldwide. The class would cover the USSR, where 20-40 million people died in the labor camps and famines, National Socialist Germany, which murdered 12 million people in Europe as well as starting a war which led to 50 million deaths, Mao’s Chinese Communist Party which killed 40-80 million people, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia which killed a quarter of the population of the country in just a four-year

[Bookshelf]

For years, the University of California, Berkeley, demanded that all incoming Freshmen take History 17A-B (introductory American Hisotry) and History 4A-4B (introductory European History). Classes were huge, and courses were taught by first-rate Historians. I will bet that the demand was erased quite some time ago.

[Reily]

Same here!

[jobim]

I am not convinced of any of this.
A federal Constitution has proved to be a mistake. Anti-Federalists had the stronger argument.
Can anything positive be said about the government of the USA since Wilson?
Look at the current wars in Iran & Ukraine: there is no mechanism to stop them.
Look at the jobs shipped overseas in the interest of "free markets" that have left our nation moribund.
Look at the importation of foreign workers because Global Corp wants them, and doesn't want highly paid Americans.
Look at the invasion of the Republic through Globaists forcing illegals into our cities. What mechanism could stop it?
Look at elections by mail, extended days, connection to internet: phony elections - meaningless.

Our Republic has reached impasse. A nostaligic notion of Austrian Economics courses as the secret to revitalization is pie in the sky.
Government power by corruption working in partnership with Globalist Corporations protected by corrupt courts and corrupt and unhindered Intelligence agencies has us on the ropes.

[oldtech]

No reason this shouldn’t be done by at least senior year at every high school in the nation. No graduate should pass along without it. Our nation would certainly be the better for it.

[muir_redwoods]

I would mandate;

1) Logic
2) Economics
3) World history of the 19th & 20th century

Master those three and possess a well used library card and I’ll call you educated

[finnsheep]

Before even those requirements young people should learn basic math, percentage and interest. While learning about the dangers of communism is vital, learning the value of money is at its base.