We’ve all heard the jokes about liberal arts majors, inspired by stereotypes that students in the humanities, social sciences and languages are destined to lives of underemployment: The science major asks, “Why does it work?” The engineering major asks, “How does it work?” The business major asks, “How much will it cost?” The liberal arts […]
Jeremi Suri
Crossing Mental Boundaries
The writer Lawrence Durrell once observed that travel is among the most rewarding forms of introspection, and students who study abroad bear this out. When they leave their comfort zones and experience life and learning in another culture, they return home knowing a lot more about themselves. Study abroad gives students context to better understand […]
On This Pearl Harbor Anniversary, Our Relationship with Japan is Changing Again
Seventy-three years ago on December 7 marked the beginning of a new era in world history. After what President Franklin Roosevelt called a “dastardly attack” on our naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, the United States went to war with Japan. For the next four years, young Americans fought some of the most brutal air, sea […]
Making the Grade
Strategies for Improving Education in America Few dispute the value of education, but discussions about how our nation should improve it are becoming more intense and polarized. Of all the competing arguments—more technology, smaller classrooms, improved teacher training, universal pre-kindergarten—most people would agree that America’s education system needs to improve, and soon. According to recent […]
50 Years of Civil Rights History: Then and Now
Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that banned widespread discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. To highlight this important milestone, we invited leading scholars from the College of Liberal Arts to highlight pivotal moments in civil rights history […]
K-12 Teachers Enhance History Curriculum, Gather New Research at Gilder Lehrman Seminar
This summer, 25 primary and secondary teachers from across the country came to The University of Texas at Austin to hone their skills and gather new research at a weeklong seminar sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History – one of the leading educational foundations in the country. Held June 23 through 29, […]