Teaching Modern American History in an Honors Program‪.‬

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. The honors course I confronted was, in Oneonta parlance, United States History II, a survey beginning in 1877 and ending in the present. A typical U.S. History II section had 45-50 heterogeneous students, utilized lecture as the primary mode of instruction, assigned a major textbook, progressed chronologically, covered considerable content, and employed examinations as the major instrument of evaluation. Simply increasing the required reading load would not convert the survey into a honors course. Brainstorming about curriculum revision always came back to the student audience: It would comprise thirteen bright, motivated first-semester freshmen, with a record of past academic success and ready to face a new challenge. I resolved to conduct this course as a seminar, driven by discussion.