Schools with best history programs how to#

In individuals, amnesia is devastating if we don't know where we've come from, we can't know who we are or where we should be headed. Third, historical knowledge is important. One of the best reasons to major in a subject is because you enjoy it and can continue to enjoy it after you graduate from Vanderbilt. History is visible everywhere in American society - theme parks, best-seller lists, cable programming, film epics, public controversy (Hiroshima exhibits, national school curriculum, Kennedy assassination). Everything has a history - nations, wars, ethnic groups, sexuality, jazz, gambling, postage stamps. It offers a boundless variety for selecting favorite topics and pursuing personal interests. It deals with real people and events, not abstractions. History's special appeal, however, comes from its distinctive subject matter, the human past.

Schools with best history programs how to#

Other liberal arts and science disciplines can legitimately make a similar claim: by studying them students also learn how to learn, although each accomplishes this in a different way. By studying the past, including primary evidence in seminars and honors research, undergraduate majors learn to think with rigor, to write with clarity and precision, to organize and assess evidence, to analyze problems and interpret complex events. Why? Here are four reasons.įirst, as one of the core disciplines of the liberal arts, history provides a classic mode of learning. Thematic Interests and Areas of ExcellenceĪt the nation's leading universities and liberal arts colleges, History departments are often among the largest on campus, and the history major has remained popular despite increasing vocational pressures for students to concentrate on job training.