Fewer Than 1 in 5 Colleges Require a US History Course

 

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Of the 1,098 American colleges and universities studied for a new report, just 23 received the highest grade for the diversity of subjects students are required to take to receive a degree.

The sixth annual "What Will They Learn?" report was compiled by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a nonprofit organization that advocates for accountability at U.S. institutions of higher education.

Faring worst among seven core subjects the ACTA believes should be included in a student's curriculum was economics, with only 3 percent of colleges requiring students to take at least one course in the subject.

Only 18 percent of colleges require a course in American history or government.

Just 13 percent of colleges require students to take at least three semesters in a foreign language or two semesters in each of two ancient languages; at taxpayer-supported public universities, that figure falls to only 8 percent of students.

According to the ACTA, 38 percent of colleges require a course in literature, 60 percent require a college-level math course, 83 percent require composition, and 87 percent require a science course.

"No 18-year-old, even the brightest, should be given the task of determining which combinations of courses comprise a comprehensive education," the report states.

The ACTA gave a college an A grade if it requires at least six of those seven core subjects; a B for four or five subjects; a C for three subjects; a D for two subjects, and an F for zero or one subject.

While only 23 colleges or 2.1 percent received an A — including the service academies — 98 received an F. ACTA awarded a B to 389 colleges, a C to 329, and a D to 259.

Among the colleges receiving an F is Vassar College in New York, which costs more than $47,000 a year in tuition and fees. The U.S. Air Force Academy, which is free, received an A.

Baylor University in Texas got an A, while another Texas school, Rice University ($38,000 a year), got an F.

One Ivy League school, Brown University, got an F.

The paucity of required courses in U.S. history and government is reflected in surveys commissioned by the ACTA, which found that 62 percent of American college graduates — yes, graduates — did not know that U.S. congressmen serve two-year terms.

The ACTA also reported that 39 percent did not know that Franklin Roosevelt was president during World War II, one-third did not know that FDR spearheaded the New Deal, and more than three in five did not know he was elected four times.