The history of higher education in the United States is deeply rooted in colonialism. The communication discipline and the field of communication, teaching, and learning find themselves unable to completely sever their ties to settler/colonialism, white supremacy, and other dehumanizing ideologies. As the authors navigate the complexities of…

This article examines how the concept of freedom has been appropriated by the far right to impose a number of authoritarian policies designed to dismantle the critical functions of public and higher education. It explores, in particular, the ways in which Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has used an appeal to freedom to punish critics,…

In this article, the author talks about the report "A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future," which provides a blueprint of what higher education ought "not" to do. The document was produced by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), an organization with a long history not only of demanding the advancement of…

This article presents the author's response to Henry Giroux's "The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex." Henry Giroux has written a provocative assessment of the contemporary challenges facing the United States as a society, which over the course of the 20th century had assumed the role of leader and exemplar…

2009 is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Naturally, historians are thrilled. But what about their discipline? Why and how might Lincoln matter to English studies? In this article, the authors reflect on Lincoln and his influence on English studies. They argue that Lincoln has played or can play an important role in the college English…

In 2007, against a tragically ironic backdrop of National Poetry Month, April indeed was "the cruellest month" (Eliot 1922, I.1). The media spotlight during that time repositioned from Iraq and Afghanistan to Blacksburg, Virginia, where a stateside guerilla incursion at Virginia Tech would mark the single worst episode of school shooting…

This article presents an interview with Ronald Takaki, a prolific and respected author and a successful teacher who wrote a number of important histories that explore the cultural diversity of the United States of America, including "From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America" (1994), "Strangers from a…

When one considers the possibilities for a new progressive era in American higher education, the author contends that it is wise to review the past because there are lessons to be learned. In fact, the latter part of the 20th century was one of great progress for diversity in higher education, generally speaking, and for African Americans in…

In "International approaches to Science Assessment" Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam describe eight major elements of assessment systems and contrast some of the differences among these elements across seven countries. Of particular interest to the author is an issue that cuts across many of these elements, namely, what gets assessed as part of these…

A college teacher discusses how in his U.S. history survey course he uses the buildings in Philadelphia to illuminate the principal forces of national history. For example, colonial buildings and street plans can help students understand the bourgeois character of early Philadelphia and of other American cities. (RM)

Tests four historical propositions of ethnic partisans by reference to the history of Wisconsin. The propositions are: racism is a disease of Americans of British ancestry; foreign born won the Civil War for the North; Americanization is "really Waspification;" and the melting pot is a comparatively recent myth. (RM)

Recounts the life and writings of noted U. S. historian, Carl Becker. Provides an analysis of his influence on the academic study of European history in the United States. (JDH)

Carl Becker's contribution to the philosophy of historical relativism is presented. Three ideas central to historical relativism are: 1) the subjectivity of historical facts, 2) history as a product of the historian's imagination, and 3) the influence of the contemporary "climate of opinion" in shaping the historian's view of the past.…

Explores why, following September 11, historical education should provide a framework that eschews pronouncements about our own superiority and prompts greater self-consciousness among Americans and greater knowledge of those arrayed against us. (EV)

Describes how the author teaches a four-week course on the Vietnam War giving attention to the books, films, and guest speakers used. States that the course enables students to understand the significant and complex issues raised by the war so that they can appreciate the different truths contained in diverse perspectives. (GEA)