Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
The Review

Why History Matters

Making a persuasive case

By Louis P. Masur January 16, 2019
Why History Matters 1
Christophe Vorlet for The Chronicle

The decision of leaders at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point to eliminate the history major, among other humanities fields, recently became front-page news in The New York Times. One student asked, “What is a university without a history major?” The decision at Stevens Point is not just the story of one rural university facing problems. History enrollments are in steep decline at colleges across the country. By one estimate, the number of history degrees awarded between 2008 and 2017 dropped more than 30 percent, exceeding declines in any other field.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Why History Matters 1
Christophe Vorlet for The Chronicle

The decision of leaders at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point to eliminate the history major, among other humanities fields, recently became front-page news in The New York Times. One student asked, “What is a university without a history major?” The decision at Stevens Point is not just the story of one rural university facing problems. History enrollments are in steep decline at colleges across the country. By one estimate, the number of history degrees awarded between 2008 and 2017 dropped more than 30 percent, exceeding declines in any other field.

The reasons for the latest falloff are easy enough to imagine: More students have turned to courses and majors in STEM fields with an eye toward employment after college; as colleges began eliminating core or distribution requirements, fewer students were introduced to the history field; history departments became increasingly specialized in their course offerings, making the major less appealing to the broadest spectrum of students.

None of this is new, and it is incumbent on historians to provide historical perspective. A headline in the Times once reported, “Ignorance of U.S. History Shown by College Freshmen.” The date was April 4, 1943. The article bemoaned that “82 percent of the colleges of this country do not require the teaching of United States history for an undergraduate degree.” The results of a questionnaire administered to 7,000 college students showed, for example, that 25 percent did not know that Abraham Lincoln was president during the Civil War.

There is a foreignness to the past that we must seek to take on its own terms.

While it is lamentable that Stevens Point is eliminating the history major, history has a long history of being ignored, in part because a persuasive case for why history matters has not always been made. Many Americans intuitively share Henry Ford’s irreverence for the past. “History is more or less bunk,” he said.

Studying the past has also lost credibility because of continuing culture wars over what should be taught. An attempt to write National History Standards for public schools in 1992 led to controversy over the amount of material devoted to figures such as George Washington, as opposed to, say, Harriet Tubman. More recently, the Texas State Board of Education decided not to eliminate a unit on Hillary Clinton and to emphasize that slavery played a central role in the Civil War. The teaching of the past is constantly changing, and, for some, this is reason enough to abandon the enterprise altogether.

An argument has to be made for why history matters, one that moves beyond the philosopher George Santayana’s well-worn adage that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” which seems mistaken at best. Time and again we remember the past and yet nonetheless seem to repeat it, whether going to war or shutting down the government.

One valuable insight into why the past matters comes not from a historian, but a novelist. In a memoir about his upbringing, Richard Ford writes, “entering the past is a precarious business since the past strives but always half-fails to make us who we are.” That seems right. We are not our parents, but we can see how we are related.

So too with the nation. We are not where we were 50, 100, or 200 years ago, but there is no doubt that the past speaks to us now. Just as we should want to know the history of our family to gain a sense of where we come from, so too should we want to know the history of the nation to grasp how we got here.

ADVERTISEMENT

We study history not because of proximity, but because of distance, because once upon a time people lived differently than we now live. There is a foreignness to the past that we must seek to take on its own terms.

At the same time, stories about the drama of life long ago might give us pause, a chance to contemplate our common humanity with those who came before. At its most purposeful, examining past lives can lead us to examine our own.

This returns us to the purpose of a college degree. “The function of the university,” proclaimed W.E.B. Du Bois, the first African-American to receive a doctoral degree from Harvard, “is not simply to teach breadwinning.” In embracing the vocational, universities such as Stevens Point are neglecting the educational.

Students should take STEM courses, but they should also be required to study history. In humanities courses, they learn to think critically, to write analytically, and to work across disciplinary lines. Students also hopefully develop empathy and understanding. This is part of what Du Bois meant when he called higher education the “adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life.” These are skills and traits that will prove beneficial regardless of a student’s vocational pursuits.

ADVERTISEMENT

It is unlikely that the undergraduates in 1943, who could not identify Lincoln, knew that Lincoln said that “we cannot escape history.” He was not offering a reason for why history matters. Instead, he was looking to the future and the judgments that would be made about the past by those who studied it. “We shall be remembered in spite of ourselves,” he predicted. Not if history disappears from the curriculum.

Louis P. Masur is a professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University at New Brunswick.

A version of this article appeared in the January 25, 2019, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Opinion
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin