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Three classes that should be required for college students
American Thinker ^ | 2 Oct, 2026 | Rhys Read

Posted on 10/02/2026 6:09:34 AM PDT by 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

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: books

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1 posted on 10/02/2026 6:09:34 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

The marxist professors and administrators would try to sabotage this program.


2 posted on 10/02/2026 6:09:46 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Agree!
However shouldn’t this be done by high school?
Waiting until college is a bit late. What about those that don’t go to college? Leaving non-collegians off leaves them ripe fodder for unionista manipulation.


3 posted on 10/02/2026 6:15:44 AM PDT by Reily
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To: Reily

Florida implemented a new law that all schools must teach at least 45 minutes of instruction on the history of communism each year on Victims of Communism Day.


4 posted on 10/02/2026 6:22:52 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Included in microeconomics should be a thorough understanding of what money is. It is not “bills” that you hold in your hand.

Also, a good primer on wealth, what creates it, and how it is preserved.


5 posted on 10/02/2026 6:28:41 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: fwdude

Students who take an economic class in college should know that governments shouldn’t print money.


6 posted on 10/02/2026 6:30:16 AM PDT by TTFX
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To: MtnClimber

I agree.


7 posted on 10/02/2026 6:31:33 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: MtnClimber

I think at a minimum any student taking out a federal or private student loan to pay for their college education should be required to take an 18-hour seminar, including a final test, on how interest is calculated, and then examine their own loan as the final test.

They’ll have no excuse for pretending ignorance at how they don’t see a reduction in their loan principle for the first few years.


8 posted on 10/02/2026 6:31:40 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: MtnClimber

And how about the basic skills of reading comprehension, grammar and spelling? So many youngsters have little understanding of how to communicate in their own language.


9 posted on 10/02/2026 6:33:12 AM PDT by Blennos (This is the official Blennos tagline. Thanks to Big Red Badger. )
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To: MtnClimber

These should also be taught in middle school and high school as well. Mandatory. MAGA.

Also mandatory should be courses in basic human biology and exercise, with an emphasis on brain health, longevity, and long-term performance. Health care costs and stupidity caused by basic neglect of ourselves are ruining our country. MAHA.


10 posted on 10/02/2026 6:38:21 AM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Prov 3:5 --- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding")
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To: MtnClimber

Should be 6th grade classes


11 posted on 10/02/2026 6:39:53 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: MtnClimber

This is all rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Until the number of high school graduates attending a four year college is reduced by at least 80% (preferably 90%) there is no hope for a meaningful improvement.

Baccalaureate education is suitable for 5-10% of the population. Forcing it on 60-75% of the teenaged population destroys education AND produces decidedly non-elite intellects who are repeatedly told they are entitled to top-tier jobs and incomes (1-5% level of both), which is obviously impossible.

The history of how elite overproduction and socialist revolution are intertwined is obvious.


12 posted on 10/02/2026 6:42:46 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
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To: MtnClimber

It’s not the reading it’s the slanted interpretation. As long as the instructors come from inside the institutions club the discussion will always take the current tone.


13 posted on 10/02/2026 6:44:34 AM PDT by sistergoldenhair
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To: MtnClimber

Agreed prescription, but suggest a different dosage.

Concepts on the structure of our country, comparisons to other forms of governance, and resulting outcomes should be taught throughout the elementary through high school experience.

There’s ample content for all ages, numerous opportunities to tie content to holidays, current events, etc. This would not be difficult to design and implement. Red States should act now, and Parents should always do their part too.

As for FEDGov…. Linking federal funding to curriculum would have risk as America periodically goes full retard and elects a Dtard into office and educational content could vary. Again, parents and red States should lead the way.


14 posted on 10/02/2026 6:54:46 AM PDT by Made In The USA (One and Two and Three and Four and)
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To: fwdude
Also, a good primer on wealth, what creates it, and how it is preserved.

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

15 posted on 10/02/2026 6:59:48 AM PDT by FatherofFive (We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor)
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To: MtnClimber
The marxist professors and administrators would try to sabotage this program.

No doubt.

16 posted on 10/02/2026 7:09:18 AM PDT by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN and HATE-DRIVEN, not-truth driven)
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To: fwdude
an 18-hour seminar, including a final test, on how interest is calculated

very few will have the prerequisite skills - order of operations, exponents, operations with fractions, to name a few...

17 posted on 10/02/2026 7:09:43 AM PDT by goo goo g'joob (When honest people say what's true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful)
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To: MtnClimber

“One of the things that was taken out of the curriculum was civics. Civics was a class that used to be required before you could graduate from high school. You were taught what was in the U.S. Constitution. And after all the student rebellions in the ‘60s, civics was banished from the student curriculum and was replaced by something called social studies. Here we live in a country that has a fabulous constitution and all these guarantees, a contract between the citizens and the government - nobody knows what’s in it. It’s one of the best kept secrets. And so, if you don’t know what your rights are, how can you stand up for them? And furthermore, if you don’t know what is in that document, how can you care if someone is shredding it?”

=Frank Zappa


18 posted on 10/02/2026 7:11:09 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: goo goo g'joob
very few will have the prerequisite skills - order of operations, exponents, operations with fractions, to name a few...

Then they have no business being in college.

19 posted on 10/02/2026 7:17:32 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: MtnClimber

Employers who ready to hire students graduating with a college degree should give them a test on all subjects they should know first.

Only way to weed out the bad ones.


20 posted on 10/02/2026 7:17:45 AM PDT by Vaduz (NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT)
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