What American History Means: A Pragmatist Perspective from the College Classroom

In recent years, calls for a renewed commitment to the teaching of US history have grown more frequent and urgent. But what's really wrong with American history education? Is it students not knowing the basic facts and critical debates of US history and political development? Is it students not developing the democratic skills, habits, and values to shape a better future? And what is the role of the history teacher in deciding what counts as basic, critical, and democratic? In short, what does it mean--for the lives of students and society at large--to teach American history?

This presentation draws on both classical pragmatism and current experiments in undergraduate civic learning to suggest an answer. From a pragmatist perspective, it makes no sense to focus on knowledge and capacity in isolation: Knowledge is only validated through its application to human goals, and capacity is only developed through autonomous yet intersubjective formulation, testing, and refinement of knowledge and goals alike. The implications of this pragmatist orientation for democratic life and undergraduate classroom practice are illustrated by the Third Way Civics initiative: a coherent yet pluralistic multistate initiative deigned to promote student civic agency through collaborative historical inquiry and meaning making.