Are Summer Reading Assignments Indoctrinating Freshmen?

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 6, 2021 | Ashlynn Warta

[karpov]

Often, incoming freshmen receive their first university assignment before the school year even begins: the summer reading. Many institutions see the summer reading assignment as an opportunity for new students to develop a sense of camaraderie. By reading the same book, the idea is that students will engage in thought-provoking conversations and have a shared educational experience.

Common reading programs are an opportunity to start students’ education on an intellectual high note. Before the semester even begins, students can begin grappling with good reading material that will prepare them for an academically rigorous time in college.

Unfortunately, research from the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals that many universities squander this opportunity by assigning trendy, politically charged books that often lack depth.

On July 21, the Chronicle published a report entitled, These Are the Books That Colleges Think Every Freshman Should Read. The authors, Audrey Williams June and Jacquelyn Elias, “analyzed four academic years’ worth of common reads—more than 1,000 titles at more than 700 institutions—to learn more about the books students are asked to read and the topics explored.” The four academic years covered were 2017-2018 through 2020-2021. Of the 700 institutions evaluated, 27 were from North Carolina, ranging from various community colleges to some of the University of North Carolina (UNC) system schools. However, of the North Carolina schools included in the report, only 13 schools had an assigned reading for three to four of the academic years. (UNC-Chapel Hill, for example, only had summer readings for academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.)

The report’s overall findings highlight three recurring problems with many colleges’ assigned readings. Schools tend to assign books that 1) are trendy and recently published, 2) are one-sided and politicized, 3) and focus on personal narratives.

[Seruzawa]

Have them read “Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James Hornfischer. That’s my recommend. I love to see the snowflakes’ hearts flutter.

[dsrtsage]

Does the pope relieve himself in the woods?

[Damifino]

Hillsdale's reading list:

https://www.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale-blog/academics/summer-reading-provost-david-whalen/

[ptsal]

Bingo

[struggle]

Well, lotta kids read “Anthem” where I teach, so...

[Fiji Hill]

I would have them read these books:

• Witness by Whittaker Chambers (New York: Harper, 1952)

• The Dream We Lost; Soviet Russia Then and Now by Freda Utley (New York: Day, 1940)

• The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority by Rose Wilder Lane (New York: Day, 1943) or The Mainspring of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver (New York: Talbot, 1947)

• American Marxism by Mark Levin (New York: Threshold, 2021)

[buwaya]

Looked into this for years, as my kids would get these things. The answer is “Yes”.

[Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi]

Also these:

1. the transcripts of the Nuremberg war crimes trials; it consists of 15 volumes; the first volume is called “The doctor trials”; it was so graphic it was difficult to read

2. “Science, politics and gnosticism” by Eric Vogelin; at one it was required reading

3. “Libido Dominandi: sexual liberation and political control” by E. Michael Jones and

5. “The roots of American order” by Russell Kirk is an extended metaphor that that uses five cities (Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, London, can’t remember the last one) as the roots of our philosophical/political roots.

There are plenty of others out there; feel free to add to the list.

[Fiji Hill]

A few more:

• The Lost City: Forgotten Virtues of Community in America by Alan Ehrenhalt (New York: Basic, 19950

• Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance (New York: Harper, 2016)

• Education in America by George Charles Roche (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1969)

• The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz (New York: Knopf, 1953)

[aspasia]

If, Milosz then,