Rewriting History
My son has been interested in military history since he read a book about the Civil War at the age of 10. His interest eventually blossomed into a decision to pursue a Ph.D. with the goal of teaching at a university. Currently, he's a graduate student working on his master's degree.
But his dream may not be achieved ... at least not in the way he thought it would play out. Why? Because the academic world is increasingly reducing its support of military historians. The discipline is considered archaic.
What he is sadly discovering is that many institutions of higher learning take a jaundiced view of "traditional" fields of history -- which is to say military, diplomatic, imperial, and political history. Some professors like to tell students that these fields are outdated and racist.
For example, look at the demographics of one well-known West Coast university's history department: it has no diplomatic historians, no military historians, and just a couple of political historians. Probably 50-75% of the faculty espouse overtly Marxist paradigms, with perhaps only one who could be called slightly conservative.
The French Revolutionary historian isn't really concerned much with the French Revolution, instead focusing solely on things like "material culture" (dresses and theater, etc.). The department's Civil War historian does not actually study the war part of the Civil War, instead focusing on the "memory" of the Civil War (i.e., why history remembers Grant to be a drunkard and how grave markers and monuments were designed after the war). If one wants to learn much about big events, important leaders, or causes and effects of major events and policy, it'd be best for them to look elsewhere.
In general, some universities will balk at hiring (for example) a medievalist because that field tends to focus on "history from above"; that is, kings, administrators, clergy, and nobility. There is a precedent for such an objection. Several years ago, a large Midwestern university received an endowment for a chair in military history. But the department delayed the hiring for a few years because much of the faculty felt uncomfortable hosting a military historian. And when a military historian was finally and reluctantly brought on, they ensured his specialty was deemed politically correct and acceptable to other faculty members.
Last night, my son shared that he will probably need to move to another university to achieve his goal. Those choices are limited, however, and he may ultimately decide to pursue other interests. It's a shame that his career choice might not occur due to a political agenda. He would have been a great professor. Fortunately for my son, he's young and bright enough to see this now, so he can make a career correction if warranted. He will be disappointed, but I am confident that he will be okay.
Parents need to be aware of what is happening, as these university agendas are already impacting your college-age kids. At his university, his department chairman is asking the grad students to develop "sexier" class titles and content. My son has noted that if you want a picture of where American society is heading intellectually, just look to the academies. They do the indoctrination.
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Aug '10
Re: Rewriting History
So far I have advised my sixteen year daughter to go ahead and learn welding, as I question the choice to attend college at all.
Your son should seriously look into the growing accreditation of online colleges and their offerings, there is no reason why they wouldn't offer a traditional course study. It must that the milieu sitting in the faculty lounge that can't abide with the other.
If they can't work within a rotten system, perhaps working outside is an option. It will certainly smell better and save water with less showers.
Mar '11
Re: Rewriting History
Your post had me thinking that perhaps our own Mr. Dave Carter could provide some insight into your son's desired career path, as a Senior Historian in the US Air Force this must be well traveled ground. He seems a man of exceedingly genial disposition, I hope you have not hesitated to solicit his advice on the matter.
May '10
Re: Rewriting History
Sadly, tell him to go talk to Mary Graber and Mark Moyer.
Jun '12
Re: Rewriting History
A sad but true tale from the heart of the culture war.
May '10
Re: Rewriting History
Most everything I know I learned from The Story of Civilization, Will & Ariel Durant, Great Books of the Western World, Robt. Maynard Hutchins, Mortimer Adler, The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski, Civilization by Kenneth Clark, and assorted others - Toynbee, Gibbons, Shelby Foote, Victor Davis Hanson, etc.
These are all rather low-brow and pedestrian I guess but, at least as far as I can tell rather free of ideological baggage (maybe not, in Clark's case but one can discount it without penalty) and can be read on one's own -- free from a professor's prejudices and expectations of conformity. Not too helpful in gaining the needed credential for teaching here but at least one can learn some history.
Jun '10
Re: Rewriting History
I'd suggest he look into a smaller school. Austin Peay State University in Tennessee has a military history degree program, for instance. The bigger name schools are all about politics, power, and prestige, not education. Find a school where the three Rs take precedence over the three Ps.
Dave is a fantastic historian even if I do say so myself. :)
Jan '12
Re: Rewriting History
Let's not forget Ricochet's own Paul A. Rahe, Professor of History at Hillsdale College!
Encourage your son to write to Dr. Rahe and ask him for some good ideas about smaller, more traditional colleges (like Grove City College and James Mason Univ.)
Your son sounds as if he will be an excellent teacher, especially, because he loves his subject!
All is not lost! Keep us informed of his progress.
Edited on February 12, 2013 at 2:06pmFeb '12
Re: Rewriting History
He should definitely read this blog ... 100 Reasons Not To Go To Graduate School.
The short version ... grad school is a hell that prepares you for nothing but the hell of part-time temp work unless you are connected and the best of the best, while saddling you with enormous debt, stealing a decade or more of your life, and making any kind of family life difficult to impossible.
Re: Rewriting History
Well, if he really really really wants to be a historian, and he’s really really really good at it, go for it, of course. Otherwise, rethink or make sure to have a Plan B at the ready. Because the market for historians—outside of a few niche specialties like Islamic history—is shrinking, often drastically, not just because of faddish prejudices within the profession (like that against military history among professors of a certain age), while history departments continue to crank out more Ph.D.s than there are available jobs by a pretty wide margin.
And—especially if you think that higher education is an unsustainable bubble—consider things might get dramatically worse before they get better. It's pretty scary for those of us much of the way down that career path.
This blog covers the profession—particularly in terms of the market for Ph.D.s and what they can do with the degree—in great detail. It's a good starting point for anyone, though not for the faint of heart:
In the Service of Clio
Edited on February 12, 2013 at 5:38amSep '12
Re: Rewriting History
He could jump ship and, linking up with a few experts in the field, start a Khan-Academy-style online DIY university for military history.
How cool would that be.
Dec '12
Re: Rewriting History
I'd say he should investigate the University of Cambridge in England. All your original sources, right there.
Feb '12
Re: Rewriting History
I once read that the the only history is military history..It is important to know let alone remember what others sacrificed so that we could be free..
This is my post from the member feed re forgotten military history.
Remember USS Growler SS215
doc molloy · February 7, 2013 at 5:25pm
On 7 Feb 1943 USS Growler SS 215 on patrol out of Brisbane in Truk-Rabaul shipping lanes had a encounter that was to earn Lcdr Howard Gilmour a congressional medal of honor, the first for a submariner.
All but forgotten now but one hell of a story.. 70 short years ago.
Re: Rewriting History
Grrr. I studied military history at the graduate level, it was among the greatest experiences of my life, and it's infuriating that a similarly inclined young student should be turned away from something so fascinating and rewarding.
I do have to say, though, that I'm sure my experience would be much less pleasant today than it was when I was a student. I'm not sure I would have the temerity to navigate the thicket of prejudice and self-righteous stupidity that prevails today in most American faculty lounges.
I second the recommendations above to check out Hillsdale and talk to Dave. Also, your son might look to the example of a person like Stephen Sears, who has written outstanding military history without a PhD. His Landscape Turned Red, about the battle of Antietam, is one of my all-time favorite works.
And whether he pursues graduate work in the field or not, please urge him to read John Keegan, just for the sheer pleasure of it.
Aug '11
Re: Rewriting History
Barbara Kidder: Let's not forget Ricochet's own Paul A. Rahe, Professor of History at Hillsdale College!
Encourage your son to write to Prof. Rahe and ask him for some good ideas about smaller, more traditional colleges.
Your son sounds as if he will be an excellent teacher, especially, because he loves his subject!
All is not lost! Keep us informed of his progress. · 6 hours ago
Sometimes there are excellent programs to be found at institutions that have a reputation for being liberal. For example, I know that Dr. Rahe studied under Donald Kagan at Yale. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Kagan'sOn the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace for my History of Western Civilization class while I was in college. Many of the historians I most admire are military historians (e.g. Donald Kagan, Victor Davis Hanson, Max Boot).
I certainly hope your son continues to pursue his dream! His field may become more a niche field, but I suspect that there will still be some excellent colleges that are unhappy with the current PC culture and greatly desire to hire professors with excellent credentials and a traditional approach to history.
Mar '11
Re: Rewriting History
Military history is still a respected field in the UK. And PhDs there are faster, because there is no teaching requirement. So look to the Empire!
May '10
Re: Rewriting History
(double post)
Edited on February 12, 2013 at 3:47pmMay '10
Re: Rewriting History
I second Bill. I'm in the same boat. If your son's ultimate goal is to become a history professor, have him consider: 5+ years of hard drudgery with limited gratification as a PhD student. Because the market is flooded, ABDs and fresh PhDs are passed up in most cases. This environment means 2-3 years on the job market, working low-pay, high volume visiting or adjunct work while you scramble to publish in order to break into a tenure track job. If you miss the boat within those 3 years, you're then considered 'stale' and your chances become slim.
Regrettably, no one told me any of this when I was considering this career path.
I absolutely love history and I love teaching at the college level. From that standpoint, I don't regret taking this route. However, if I could go back and start again, from an economic standpoint, I probably would have done something different.
Aug '11
Re: Rewriting History
Interestingly enough he almost applied for a historian position with the military a couple of months ago. The location of the position was in Hawaii. He decided to remain focused on finishing his graduate degree.
Aug '11
Re: Rewriting History
All wonderful authors but here's the interesting thing...his professors all share that these "writers" are not true historians and as such should not be receiving the attention and fame that they do. I'm not kidding.
Jun '10
Re: Rewriting History
HeartofAmerica
Interestingly enough he almost applied for a historian position with the military a couple of months ago. The location of the position was in Hawaii. He decided to remain focused on finishing his graduate degree. · 21 minutes ago
I wish he had taken the position. He could have still pursued his graduate degree and the experience would have been invaluable. Pay wouldn't have been bad either.
HeartofAmerica
All wonderful authors but here's the interesting thing...his professors all share that these "writers" are not true historians and as such should not be receiving the attention and fame that they do. I'm not kidding. · 9 minutes ago
This is not surprising. The egos involved in academia will always insure that the only people who learn are those who strive to do so in spite of their "educators."
Wasn't it Mark Twain who said "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education"?