Not all students doomed to historical illiteracy

On July 30, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough gave a speech at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. His speech, firmly grounded in the great American tradition of the jeremiad, lamented the hapless state of American education. Students in this nation, he said, are growing up historically illiterate and if we don’t fix the situation soon – McCullough recommends requiring future teachers to have subject majors outside of education – our nation, our constitutional democracy, is doomed.

As a high school teacher of English and history, I find myself in complete agreement with McCullough. Good teachers do not learn their craft from methods classes; they learn how to teach by watching other teachers – great ones, good ones, indifferent ones, and even poor ones – teach English, history, Latin, biology and algebra. And they learn what to teach through intensive – and ongoing – study of their subjects. I may not teach “Measure for Measure” this year, for example, but seeing an excellent production of the play one afternoon this summer at Monmouth has deepened my understanding of Shakespeare and will make me a better teacher of not only Shakespeare but also of drama and English literature in general. Experience and knowledge are key.

In his speech, McCullough focuses much of his criticism on the failures of higher education: “Of the fifty supposedly best colleges and universities, at very few is history required for graduation,” he noted. I would like David McCullough to know that, in spite of his anxiety over the state of American education, the teaching of college-level history and literature is alive and well at Belfast Area High School.

Both Advanced Placement Global Studies for sophomores and Advanced Placement American Experience for juniors are yearlong, double-period, interdisciplinary survey courses that combine the study of literature and composition with a chronological study of history. Students in the former course take the AP World History exam in the spring of their sophomore year and students in the latter course take the AP English Language and Composition exam and the AP U.S. History exam near the end of their junior year. Students who do well on these exams – earning a grade of 3 or better – are generally considered qualified to receive college credit for an equivalent course, advanced placement in college courses, or both at about 2,900 colleges and universities. The freshman college student who has been given AP recognition can take advanced courses, explore different subject areas, enter honors and other special programs, pursue double majors, complete undergraduate requirements early, and realize substantial cost savings (as much as $3,000 per course).

For example, one 2007 BAHS graduate who made good use of her time at the high school by pursuing AP classes will enter the University of Maine at Farmington this fall having already earned 16 college credits; two will enter Cornell, another Georgetown, and at least one will be enrolled in the honors program at the University of Maine in Orono. The success enjoyed by these young men and woman is not atypical.

This past spring, of the nineteen sophomore students enrolled in AP World History, sixteen earned a score of 3 or better on the AP exam: there were five 5s, five 4s, and six 3s. College Board studies indicate that AP grades of 5 or 4 are equivalent to a college course grade of A, while an AP grade of 3 is comparable to a B.

As for AP American Experience, the class was small this year but the grades earned are representative of the success enjoyed in past years. Of the 10 students who took the AP U.S. History exam, seven earned a grade of 3 or higher. In AP English Language and Composition, again seven out of 10 earned a grade of 3 or higher. In AP U.S. Government and Politics, eleven students out of fourteen earned a grade of 3 or higher, and in English Literature and Composition, nine students took the exam and nine scored a 3 or higher. These last two courses, which are offered to high school seniors, complete the three-year AP humanities curriculum at BAHS. All of the instructors of the courses listed above, by the way, have recently completed the AP audit initiated across the nation by the College Board this past year and each course curriculum has been officially approved.

I would like McCullough to please consider such courses and such student performances as he surveys the current condition of our schools, and not to despair. The students who choose to enroll in these challenging courses, their parents who support them, and their teachers who guide and instruct them are together keeping the light of American public education alive; they are maintaining the “city upon a hill” first envisioned by Gov. John Winthrop on board the Arbella anchored in Boston Harbor in 1630. If McCullough would be willing to acknowledge that our small high school is to some extent indicative of the whole, then he must admit that the state of the nation is, at least today, less perilous than he perceives it to be.

William J. Murphy of Belfast has taught English and interdisciplinary courses at Boston University, the University of Maine at Machias, Shead High School in Eastport, and has been teaching interdisciplinary AP classes since 1993 at Belfast Area High School.