2008 History AP Exams

I graded history ap exams last month and the document question was on the war in Vietnam. Some of the amusing answers that I read include:

• The men sent to Vietnam had no intention of succeeding or returning home. This was a major strategy problem for the U.S. military.
• Before the Gulf of Tonkin resolution there was an incident known as the sinking of the Lusitania.
• The Vietnam War followed great foreign policy traditions such as Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, and Eisenhower's Annex to the Monroe Doctrine.

Fun stuff!

Professors Who Assign Their Own Books

The University of Utah has just come up with a policy passed by both the faculty and the administration that prohibits its faculty from collecting royalties if they assign their own books to the classes they are teaching. This policy is supposed to help assure students that s professor has assigned a book because it is the best in the field or covers a topic in a particularly important way, rather than because the prof. can make money from it. Utah Policy Would Restrict Profs' Royalties From Books - The Paper Trail (usnews.com)

During all my time in graduate school, only one professor ever assigned his own books to the class. I never suspected he was doing it for the royalties, but at the same time I never thought the books were particularly ground-breaking. One of my other graduate school professors argued against profs assigning their own books stating that you should be getting the professor's view on subject of the book from lectures/discussion and reading the books written by that same instructor did not expose students enough to varying viewpoints of a topic.

I probably lean toward the profs shouldn't assign their own books camp, but I don't think it is that much of an issues. I do, however, believe that the University of Utah's policy overlooks the fact that profs can make $$ off of their classes without assigning their own books. I remember several years ago a publisher offered some history faculty members around $1500 if they would 'review' a textbook and assign it to their classes so they could get student input as well. So even though the Utah policy cuts down the ability of profs to earn a little more money, at the same time it leaves untouched an entirely different method for profs to each cash off the backs of their students.

I'd Like to Exchange My Liberal Arts Degree for Something Useful

Just read a letter (probably fake - but still funny) from an Arizona State University alumni with a B.A. in English, who wanted either a refund for his defective product - which has failed to get him respect or a job - or wanted to exchange his B.A. for a useful degree like a B.S. in science or an MBA.

I quite often get asked what our history majors do with their degrees. Old stand-bys like: go into public history, teach h.s., go to graduate school or law school, work in media/journalism are easy enough to discuss. However, most of our graduates probably end up in the business world and they soon discover that they aren't so unique because many of their colleagues also have B.A. degrees.

In fact, my department chair just did a survey of Fortune 500 Companies and discovered that at least six of the Top 100 CEOs of had been a history major as an undergraduate. This far surpassed the number of humanities/social science majors represented in the study. So while I don't know exactly how useful a B.A. is in English, I think that the B.A. in history can provide a firm foundation for a career in many different areas of employment.

Here are the six Top CEOs with history majors:

Samuel Palmisano, IBM
John Mack, Morgan Stanley
Alan Lafley, Procter & Gamble
Richard Parsons, Time Warner
Kenneth Chenault, American Express
John Faraci, International Paper

Chris Rock and American History

So I'm watching the Chris Rock comedy special (apparently first out in 2004) and he is telling jokes about the lasting consequences of slavery, but all I can think about is how many questions I'm going to get in my survey class next semester about whether or not slaves who could read got killed.

Watch the Chris Rock history lesson on youtube.com.

Is it good or bad when popular actors/comedians, etc. talk about American history?

Funny Student Mistake

Ugh... I've been so busy this semester I haven't had time to blog at all. However, while grading papers I ran across this student mistake that made me chuckle so I had to share.

Here is the line: "Even after the truth is known, she is still used as the escape goat."

Historical Sports Movies

One of my colleagues teaches a class on movies and history. He has an entire list of genres - good war movie, bad war movie, biography, etc. The one category he leaves out, however, are movies based on real-life sporting events. I personally get a big kick out of historical sporting movies, but perhaps that is because I like sports.

I also do have a favorite historical sporting film - Hoosiers. I mean how much better can a film be? A small rural team overcomes tremendous odds to become state champions. It also helps that the film focuses on the best sport EVER invented - basketball. But in the interest of fairness, I provide the list below of other historically based sporting films.

Remember the Titans
Cool Runnings
Seabiscuit
Rudy
Miracle
Cinderella Man
Friday Night Lights
The Rookie
A League of their Own
Chariots of Fire
Eight Men Out
Hoosiers
Offside

Did I miss any? Anyone want to argue about the vast superiority of Hoosiers over these other films?

Rain in DC

So it is raining in DC today, no big deal except that this guy in the subway was selling umbrellas for $5. I was like $5?! That is cheap! You can't even get an umbrella at a Wal-mart for less than $7. Who is this guy's wholesaler?

The Buzz in DC

I'm in Washington, DC this week to do some research at the Library of Congress and to go to a conference. What is everyone talking about? On the subway? In the Library? Coming out of the House office building?

Harry Potter

The congressional interns were bitching cuz the staffer in their office took an hour and a half lunch break to read Potter. At the LOC, the staff was abuzz with how long they had waited in line for the book and how late they stayed up reading it. On the subway, it was about what had happened in the book, whether or not they were surprised, and how it did or didn't live up to expectations.

I've always thought of DC as a city apart. It's kind of the graduate school of the nation - they worry about different things than everyone else, get caught up in things the rest of the citizens don't think is all that important, but today proved me wrong. DC really is like the rest of country - at least for a weekend.

The Berks

Well, I got my rejection email from the Berkshire Conference of Women's Historians yesterday. This was the third time I had submitted a panel and the third time it has been rejected. It is a good thing that I don't evaluate my entire career on whether or not I am accepted by women's historians - because I am quite certain I would have given up and become computer programmer if I did.

I am sure there are some historians out there who are thinking 'buck up- maybe your proposals are just not that good.' Okay, MAYBE, but similar proposals were good enough for me to present at other national conferences. I've been to the AHA three times, they love me at SHAFR, at PHS conferences there is standing-room only available at my sessions (this last one is a lie - about the standing room only - but my proposals have been accepted at PHS conferences regularly since 2000).

So what is the problem with me and the Berks? As far as I can tell, it is that I'm not 'edgy' enough. I write traditional history about women, women who are involved in politics and foreign policy. I can just imagine how my proposals have been viewed by the program committee.

Committee member 1: Oh, another proposal for a session on the historical importance of the clitoris.

Committee member 2: Haven't we already accepted proposals about 'The History of the Vagina' and 'The Origins of Foreplay?'

Committee member 3: Yes, but a scholarly discussion of the clitoris is so much different than those other panels.

Committee member 1: Very true. Are we all agreed it is in? (general nodding ensues) Good. Next?

Committee member 2: I have a proposal about women's involvement in U.S. diplomacy prior to the 1960s.

Committee member 3: Political history? How very 1970s! (everyone laughs and then my proposal gets thrown in the trash can without further discussion.)

This must be how military historians feel.

Of course to add insult to injury, the form rejection letter the Berkshire Program Committee sent was from 2005 - first line reads: Thank you for your submission to the 2005 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians.

I think I'll write back and let them know that luckily I didn't apply for the 2005 Conference, but to let me know when they get around to rejecting my 2008 proposal.

Liberal Arts and ROTC

Like many liberal arts colleges, my school has many more women enrolled on campus than men. Every now and then, some of my colleagues and I sit around at lunch and attempt to 'solve' the college's problems. One day in the Spring the problem we were focused on was how to recruit more men - some tried and true methods were thrown around, add football, add wrestling, add engineering, etc. I suggested adding ROTC. My colleagues looked at me like I had grown an extra head. Like I was proposing shipping students off to Iraq immediately or had proclaimed my support for the current military activities in the Middle East. Comments like, 'It would cause too much conflict on campus' to 'We aren't in the business of educating soldiers' were thrown around.

One of my colleagues, however, a former enlisted man in navy argued that those unhappy with the current state of affairs in the military should be the ones who push the hardest to get ROTC offered at liberal arts colleges. Why wouldn't you want officers to have the best kind of critical thinking skills and have been exposed to different viewpoints, international theories, and read widely on many different topics? This type of military official is able to problem solve, think for him/herself, and maybe someday direct the future of the military in a way that takes into account the history and cultures of other nations.

I couldn't agree more. I'd love to see more ROTC offered at more liberal arts colleges. I'd love to see more Harvard or Stanford or Berkley men and women joining the military. I'm not advocating militarizing higher education, but rather finding a way to provide future military leaders with the broadest and best learning opportunities possible.

Lost AP Gems

I was going through my notes from grading the AP U.S. history exam and found these last few gems that I wanted to share. The question I was grading had to do with the impact of the Second Great Awakening on temperance, abolition, Utopian communities, and the cult of domesticity.

• Abraham Lincoln responded to John Brown's actions by writing the Emancipation Proclamation.
• In the North two very important commodities were beer and slaves. Without these two commodities the North's economy would have a tough time getting by.
• There were many great abolitionists such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Fredrick Douglass, and Ulysses S. Grant.
• The Brook Farm experiment proved to be ineffective because people died from not having sexual pleasure.
• The Shriners did not believe in procreation.
• It was safer to face an angry Southerner than an angry lion.
• The only lasting impact of the Oneidas was their silverware. I myself have a rubber Oneida spatula purchased five years ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
• Actually none of this is probably true. I don't know what I'm talking about.

Wouldn't My Provost Be Proud

Apparently, the words kill, crap, and crack make this blog inappropriate for those under 13.

Eight Random Facts Meme

I got tagged for the 8 Random Facts Meme by David Parker over at Another History Blog. Here are the rules:

• Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
• Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
• Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

1. I was always good at history in school, but choose it as my major because of how few hours you were required to take.

2. I'm very proud of my writing, but it takes me forever to write something decent. It takes even longer if it has to be decent and original/insightful.

3. I've never had a crush on any of my professors or students. I'm much more of a 'crush on my peers' sort of gal.

4. When I told my dad I wanted to go to graduate school in history, I got several lectures on 'how so-and-so was a Ph.D. bagging groceries' and 'why couldn't I get a good job with 4 years of college'.

5. I'm a sucker for students with a hard-luck tale (as long as there aren't repetitive hard-luck tales).

6. I believe that most of the people I work with are smarter than me. I just work hard.

7. I've never owned a brand new car and am proud of it.

8. I don't understand why so many academic historians look down on public history, historical reenactors, genealogists, etc. Isn't there room for all different types of history lovers in the world?

I'm tagging the following five people (if they haven't already been tagged) - I'm suppose to tag 8, but it's the summer and I'm lazy. Tim Lacy, Another Damned Medievalist, Jennie W, Progressive Historians, and Nerdgasms.

When Will My Zombie Obsession End?

36%

Could you survive? Find out here.

Productive Summer Anyone?

I read an article by Mary McKinney, an Academic Career Coach, about how to have a productive summer.

She recommended:

1. Come up with your number one priority

Instead of working on several projects over the summer, none of which get enough time devoted to them, focus on completing one of them. Once that one is finished, perhaps you'll have time to move on to the next project.

2. Carve out time

Set aside time that is typically not available when school is in session to work on your project. Don't let other responsibilities that aren't your number one priority infringe on that time.

3. Increase your motivation

Let your partner, colleagues, friends, etc. know what you plan to accomplish during the summer. This will help motivate you since you'll want to avoid the embarrassment of not finishing.

Since my own summer has been horribly, unproductive so far I am going to try and do this. I have like three things I really need to finish, but instead of stressing over them all at once and not getting any of them done. I'll set my priorities and work on them one at a time, during a certain part of my day, and I won't let anything interfere with it.