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Academics are not the ones who are failing America
By Meeghan Ramsey
Guest Columnist

I had heard several different rumors about the American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s report titled "Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It" before reading the columns written by Lauren Carruth and Andrew Whitacre ("All speech deserves protection" and "Dissenting speech must be protected to educate," Dec. 6). Since Carruth provided a link to the actual report itself, I was able to view it on my own and formulate my own opinions. I encourage others to do the same.

Regarding the report, Carruth and Whitacre both commented on the right of free speech and the possible censures on the academic world. In addition to these issues, I found other aspects of the report perturbing. What irritated me the most were the following statements made by Lynne Cheney: "At a time of national crisis, I think it is particularly apparent that we need to encourage the study of our past. Our children and grandchildren — indeed all of us — need to know the ideas and ideals on which our nation had been built" and "If there was one aspect of schooling from kindergarten through college to which I would give added emphasis today, it would be American history." I could not agree more with Cheney, for more Americans should know about American history. However, I firmly believe that the more one knows about American history, the more disgusted with the American government one would be.

Furthermore, after delving below the surface of American history, one would be more willing to embrace the ideas of the intellectuals Cheney condemns. I find it irritating that the people who would know the most about American history, such as history, anthropology and politics professors, are the same ones that Cheney criticizes, claiming that they are "failing" America.

Although criticizing the historically learned, Cheney seems to be committed to the idea of historical literacy. Cheney explains that the ACTA provided another report titled "Losing America’s Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century" explaining that a student can graduate from all the top 55 American colleges without taking an American history course. In fact, a student can graduate from 78 percent of the top 55 schools without taking a history course at all. Thus, if the non-history major student is charged with knowing little if anything about American history, what can be said about the average American?

The "Defending Civilization" report begins with the idea that 92 percent of the American public supports the war, even if casualties occur. Next, the writers are sure to point out that "the citizens have rallied behind the president wholeheartedly." Given all these facts and figures, the situation boils down to this: the majority of the naïve and ignorant American public supports the war. The majority of the educated intellectuals oppose it. However, the educated are charged with "failing" America. Is this right? It seems to me that more, not less, legitimacy should be given to the experts in the social and political history fields. These people have spent their lives researching their respective areas of study; Cheney responds with an ignorant critique.

I find Cheney’s critique of academia’s opinions and simultaneous emphasis on historical literacy troubling. I personally doubt she really wants the American public to know more about every aspect of American history. As a history major at this university I learned, if nothing else, that the American government has committed horrible, despicable acts that certainly violate the ideas and ideals that this country was founded upon. American history, on a whole, is not a pretty picture. America is not perfect, for no nation is perfect. America makes mistakes just as other nations do.

When Cheney speaks of American history, I doubt she speaks of America’s darkest days, but rather the sugar-coated "grandeur" of this "great and moral" country. Does she really think the Pilgrims and the Indians played nicely together? Is she even aware that there are demonstrations every year on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock? Does she really want the American public to know all about Vietnam? Or the rape of the Philippines? Or the brutal American imperialism of the 1900s? What about the immoral destruction at My Lai? Does she want the American public to know that the American government knew what and where Auschwitz was, but did not destroy it? Or that the U.S. government sent a ship full of Jews back to Germany during the Holocaust? Or about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II? Does she really want the American public to know about the extent of racism and discrimination that has beset black people since the inception of this country? Does she really want the American public to learn about the acceptable demoralization of our society and our government as long as Wall Street stocks go up a quarter of a tenth of a percent?

This country has become less and less about who works hardest as opposed to who manipulates most ruthlessly. Most importantly, to be well read in American history does not mean to celebrate only the events that support the ideas and ideals that this country was founded upon; it also means to accept and understand how these ideas and ideals were perverted and abused by many, many American politicians and government officials. Americans must accept Watergate and the Vietnam Crisis just as they celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation and the Revolutionary War. Many professors and experts who speak out against the war in Afghanistan accept these seemingly opposite events as deeply rooted in the American tradition. Many people that understand and study both the beautiful and the ugly truths of our American past speak out against the War Against Terrorism. And Cheney, speaking for many, thinks they are failing us.

Every American should know more about American history. I believe every American should know that we have been lied to before and must know that we may be lied to again. And the naïve and ignorant, rather than the informed and educated, are the ones failing America.