Meaning Over Memory: Recasting the Teaching of Culture and History

by Peter N. Stearns

Overview

In the midst of the heated battles swirling around American humanities education, Peter Stearns offers a reconsideration not of what we teach but of why and how we teach it. A humanities program, says Stearns, should teach students not just memorized facts but analytical skills that are vital for a critically informed citizenry. He urges the use of innovative research as the basis of such a curriculum, and he offers specific suggestions on translating curriculum goals into courses that can be taught alongside or instead of the more conventional staples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469619637
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Series:	H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	270
File size:	897 KB

About the Author

Peter N. Stearns is Heinz Professor of History and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. His many books include European Society in Upheaval and Jealousy: The Evolution of an Emotion in American History.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A scholarly but accessible and thoughtful contribution to the ongoing debate on alternative futures for humanities education.” — Booklist

“Succeeding on a macro-educational scale, Stearns has written a blueprint for the kinds of changes needed in the teaching of history and the humanities. This book demands a wide, national audience; it should be a spark for productive critical debate, and ultimately for reform, at all levels of teaching.” — Robert Blackey, coauthor of Revolution and the Revolutionary Ideal

“Peter Stearns offers a thoughtful attempt to find a middle ground between the 'traditionalists' and the 'radicals' in the teaching of the humanities. The book, which embodies both his intellectual range as a scholar and his long experience in the classroom, should especially appeal to the many teachers and parents who share his commitment to sanity and balance in education.” — Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, author of Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism

“Stearns argues cogently for a new stance that would replace memorization of plot lines and lists of names and events with instruction that teaches students how societies function and change. . . . A significant and provocative argument about a topic of current interest and enduring import.” — CHOICE

Editorial Reviews

Stearns (history, Carnegie Mellon U.) writes for those interested in humanities education--a subject of debate as those who favor the conventional canon resist the changes advocated by women and minorities. He asserts that a fundamental kind of transformation is needed: the debate should move away from what groups are favored to what kinds of analyses a study of humanities should further. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A Carnegie-Mellon historian and dean, Stearns joins the chorus of voices seeking to replace academia's current unproductive "canon fire" with a serious debate about the role of the humanities curriculum in "improv[ing] student understanding of how cultures operate and how societies function." Rejecting "the Allan Bloom-NEH insistence on conventional humanities coverage" as well as "the most simplistic alternative . . . list[ing] achievements of minority groups and other cultures simply for their own sakes," Stearns argues that innovations in humanities scholarship over the past quarter-century suggest that a new curriculum focused on inculcating analytical skills and establishing a solid basis for social and cultural understanding can accomplish more than enforced memorization of the "datapoints" of "any" culture. "Meaning over Memory" addresses the highly publicized P.C. debates of recent years, educators' limited knowledge about precisely what skills and/or content students at various levels can reasonably be expected to learn through the humanities, the practicalities--and impracticalities--of curriculum construction, and the proper role of the humanities--and the sciences--in "educating for democracy." A scholarly but accessible and thoughtful contribution to the ongoing debate on alternative futures for humanities education.

Mary Carroll

This book demands a wide, national audience; it should be a spark for productive critical debate, and ultimately for reform.

Robert Blackey, coauthor of "Revolution and the Revolutionary Ideal"

"This book demands a wide, national audience; it should be a spark for productive critical debate, and ultimately for reform.

Robert Blackey, coauthor of "Revolution and the Revolutionary Ideal""

A scholarly but accessible and thoughtful contribution to the ongoing debate on alternative futures for humanities education.

"Booklist"

A significant and provocative argument about a topic of current interest and enduring import.

"Choice"

From the Publisher