Teaching Modern American History In An Honors Program

Abstract

Two years ago the State University of New York at Oneonta re-established an honors program. The purpose of this venture was to attract outstanding students to our college and retain them. To create a strong base before expanding, only two honors sections were offered initially, one in philosophy and the other in history. Admittance to these two courses was by invitation only, with selection, limited to an elite group of incoming freshmen, based on high school grade average and class standing, Scholastic Aptitude Tests, and a writing sample. Asked to teach the history course, I established its primary purpose: to demonstrate the relevance of the past to the present.