With two sons in college, I hear what is happening in the classrooms. In covering American history, I barely recognize the events, which they present as history. Just in terms of time spent, the typical history course spends 1-2 lectures addressing the evils of slavery and less than one lecture covering the events of the War Between the States. When addressing the topic of slavery, they throw out the usual arguments about the institution. They do not provide numbers or solid data on the numbers of free blacks. Little is mentioned of the Cherokee Indians having slaves on the trail of tears. I was proud of one of my sons who pointed out that the required text on slavery in Texas was based on a events in one county. He went on to state that it was a statistically small group and that you could not apply what the text said to the population at large, although the instructor regarded the book as "the authoritative book on slavery in Texas".

Other travesties included Calhoun and James Knox Polk being maligned and the whole political questions associated with secession are ignored.

With the internet, you can see college syllabus online and see what they cover in the courses.

Here is one from Temple University.Temple University Syllabus. Here is Ole Miss Ole Miss History Syllabus . You can look up others and see for yourself. I was astounded in looking at the history from 1877 on. In some of those courses, the students are assigned to read Bellamy’s book. If you choked on the pledge of allegiance, you will find it almost impossible to breathe in reading Bellamy’s socialist views. Given that this is the kind of material students are taught, it is no wonder they do not have solid answers for the problems of today. They have no solid foundation to answer the critics who attack southern culture. The need for Southern scholarship and apologetics is massive.

Our children need to read John C. Calhoun and R. L. Dabney. They need to know the history of their nation. They need a healthy dose of the Anti-Federalist Papers (I had to search long and hard to find a copy for my sons). They need to read Jefferson Davis rather than read about him. They need to read accounts written by those who suffered through reconstruction. They need a healthy dose of the Nashville Agrarians. They need "Real History".   

Just because the college or university professors are read, does not mean that they know how to think, or that they are knowledgeable. They have their degrees due to having been indoctrinated in the prescribed methods at other schools.  A few brave professors are out there, providing a light of truth, and you may have to seek them out. Truth is too valuable to trust them blindly.

If we are to be an enlightened people, we need education. We need to know the facts and true accounting of history, rather than modern spin put on history. What were the poignant arguments and issues of the days of our forefathers? Those are the things we need to grasp.

Free Texas!

J Murrah

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