University of Virginia Library

Pursuant to a resolution of the Board of Visitors adopted October 14, 1949, the Rector
appointed the undersigned Committee to meet with the President and such members of the Faculty as
the President thought appropriate to study the desirability and feasibility of including a course
in American History and Government as a prerequisite for the Bachelor of Arts degree. At the present
time neither subject is required of applicants for that degree.

In a letter of November 15, 1949, to its Chairman, the President suggested that your Committee's
study "be made a part of a general review of the curriculum of the College of Arts and
Sciences" and stated that, "The Faculty Committee on College Policy will shortly report, and Dean
Lewis tells me that one of the things suggested is the setting up of a committee to review the work
being done in the College. An over-all review is badly needed and much would be gained by making
it a general instead of a piecemeal process."

Pursuant to the President's suggestion, your Committee has therefore awaited the coming in
of the report of the Committee on College Policy, which we understand has now been received by the
President. A copy has just been made available to your Committee. Upon the subject with which we
are concerned the report has this to say:

Since receiving the foregoing report, the President has suggested to your Committee that
it presently report to the Board its conclusions and recommendations, in order that the Board may
make known to the committee to be created to review the college curriculum its views upon the question
whether a course, or courses, in American History and Government should be made a prerequisite
to the awarding of the Bachelor of Arts degree.

Your Committee therefore submits the following report:

The teaching of American History and Civil Government in the elementary and high schools
of the State is now and has been for many years required by law (Section 22-223, Virginia Code,
1950), and these subjects are also included in the "branches of learning" required to be taught at
the universities (id., Section 23-63).[1]

It seems implicit in these provisions of law that the subjects mentioned are considered as
essential in the education of the youth of our State. Both are taught at the elementary and high
school levels as well as at the college level. The question submitted to your Committee, therefore,
is simply whether their study should be compulsory in the institution of learning which Jefferson
is credited with intending should constitute the cap-stone of the educational system of Virginia.

It may be suggested that it would be better to leave the matter to the choice of the student,
since compulsion is a force alien to the traditions of the University. This view point is
contrary to the practice presently obtaining in respect to other subjects, since the University now
requires applicants for the B.A. degree to take courses in English (Composition and Literature), a
foreign language (ancient or modern), Mathematics and a natural science (the University of Virginia
Record, College of Arts and Sciences, Volume XXXV, No. 1, January 1, 1949).

The addition of American History and Government as a required course, or courses, would,
therefore conform to rather than depart from the established practice, if the importance of the subject
so requires.

It has seemed to your Committee, therefore, that the real question with respect to which
it should submit its conclusions and recommendations is whether the study of American History and
Government by University students is of such importance in the acquisition of a Liberal Arts education
as to require it to be taken as a condition to the award of a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In discussing this question, Doctor A. L. Strand, President of Oregon State College, recently
and aptly said:

Being in accord with these views, your Committee has sought to ascertain the extent to
which other American colleges and universities place sufficient emphasis upon the teaching of American
History and Government to prescribe it, or them, as required courses in a liberal arts education,
and was happy to find that a most comprehensive investigation had recently been made by the
"New York Times" which published in its issue of April 17, 1950, a highly informative article by Mr.
Benjamin Fine, accompanied by a chart showing the "Results of Study of American History in Colleges
and Universities" based on questionnaires returned from 1,301 such institutions, of which 455 were
public, 353 private and 493 denominational.

The questionnaire submitted contained, among others, the following inquiries

---

156

The answers to these inquiries are most interesting and revealing. As to the former 162
(53.6%) public, 63 (21.8%) private and 114 (27.8%) denominational institutions, a total of 339
(33.9%) of the replies received, answered in the affirmative in respect to undergraduate students.

In response to the latter inquiry, 336 (73.8%) public, 159 (45.0%) private, and 305
(61.9%) denominational, a total of 800, or 61.5%, of the replies received, answered in the affirmative
in respect to undergraduate students.

Two other questions submitted by the "New York Times" seem especially pertinent to the
present inquiry. They are:

The answers to these inquiries are also most interesting and revealing. As to the former,
430 (94.5%) public, 278 (78.8%) private, and 423 (85.8%) denominational, a total of 1,131, or 86.9%,
of the replies received were in the affirmative. In response to the latter inquiry, 407 (89.5%)
public, 248 (70.3%) private, and 394 (79.9%) denominational, a total of 1,049, or 80.6%, of the replies
received answered in the affirmative

The foregoing significant demonstration of opinion among American institutions of higher
learning favorable to the teaching of American History and Government and its, or their, inclusion
in the courses required for the award of a Bachelor of Arts degree in order that students may be
better informed in the ideals of citizenship and accordingly less likely to turn to other ideologies,
impels your Committee to suggest that the Board of Visitors approve and recommend that the curriculum
of the College be revised as soon as possible to include these subjects in a required course, or
courses.