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Expectations of Postsecondary History Instructors in California and North Carolina
James Ingram Martin, Sr.*
Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina
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Many students enter college with preconceived notions, myths that the statistics belie. One myth, passed on when students go home for the holidays, is that the partying goes on all the time on and around campus, leading high school seniors to believe that college represents a bacchanalian (a.k.a., "Animal House", "PCU") hiatus between childhood and the real world. Social science classes they hope to take are, with some justification, often viewed as "jock courses," since a substantial number of basketball stars, including Michael Jordan, have majored in that area. Another myth is that community college instructors demand far less than instructors at four-year institutions. Related to this is the belief that students, in keeping with their high school experiences, will not have to write papers if they attend two-year institutions. A third myth is that students will be asked to read only one textbook, as can happen in high school, and that instructors just "teach the textbook." Finally, it is thought that college students, especially those at large universities, will be able to pass through lower-division courses as anonymous bytes on a diskette, just faces in a cavernous lecture hall. Some people go so far as to believe that attendance is of little consequence. |
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Such are the expectations of college among a remarkably large portion of the American teen-aged population. One of the greatest challenges confronting a secondary-school teacher is to prepare students for college in realistic terms, since far more colleges, two-year as well as four-year, demand much more than these myths suggest. This essay makes a survey of the expectations of students found in the syllabi of Western Civilization, World Civilization, and United States History survey courses taught at both two-and-four-year institutions, in California and North Carolina. What the numbers presented here show is that a strong majority of the instructors expected students to read beyond a single textbook, to write papers, and to take essay exams. All of which suggests some points as to how high school history teachers can prepare students for facing college level classes. |
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During the 1998-99 academic year, I surveyed institutions of higher learning in California to determine what instructors expected from their students in introductory history classes. In the case of two-year colleges, survey recipients from 17 out of the 90 institutions approached submitted 49 Western Civilization, World Civilization, or U.S. History syllabi. The following district (community) colleges sent responses: |
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Antelope Valley College (Lancaster)
Canada College (Redwood City)
Chaffey Community College (Rancho Cucamongo)
College of the Canyons (Santa Clarita)
College of the Redwoods (Eureka)
Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo)
Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill)
Glendale College (Glendale)
Los Medanos College (Pittsburg)
Merced College (Merced)
Mission College (Santa Clara)
Modesto Junior College (Modesto)
Ohlone College (Fremont)
San Diego City College (San Diego)
San Diego Mesa College (San Diego)
Santa Rosa Junior College (Santa Rosa)
Sierra College (Rocklin)
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In the case of four-year institutions, I contacted 69 colleges and universities; 26 responded with a total of 127 relevant syllabi, once again almost exclusively concerning Western Civilization, World Civilization, and United States History surveys. Representatives from the following schools provided syllabi: |
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Azusa Pacific University (Azusa)
California State Polytechnic University (Pomona)
California State Polytechnic University (San Luis Obispo)
California State University (Sacramento)
California State University (San Bernardino)
California State University (San Marcos)
College of Notre Dame of California (Belmont)
Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles)
Mills College (Oakland)
Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego)
Saint Mary's College of California (Moraga)
San Diego State University (San Diego)
San Francisco State University (San Francisco)
Santa Clara University (Santa Clara)
Southern California College (Costa Mesa)
Stanford University (Stanford)
University of California (Davis)
University of California (Irvine)
University of California (Riverside)
University of California (San Diego)
University of California (Santa Barbara)
University of San Diego (San Diego)
University of San Francisco (San Francisco)
Westmont College (Santa Barbara)
Whittier College (Whittier)
Woodbury University (Burbank)
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My findings indicate that the location, status, and size of a school matter little insofar as introductory course requirements are concerned. In the case of California two-year colleges, 44 out of 49 syllabi (89.8%) included at least three examinations or the equivalent as part of the course grade for the quarter or semester; in the case of four-year institutions, 67 out of 127 classes (52.8%) required three or more exams. Twenty-eight out of 49 two-year college classes (57.1%) included an essay component in examinations; 50 out of 127 senior institution syllabi (39.4%) did so. Concerning papers or projects, 38 out of 49 community college syllabi (77.6%) required some type of written work; professors at four-year institutions assigned papers in 97 out of 127 instances (76.4%). Thirty-eight out of 49 community college syllabi (77.6%) expected active class participation; in the case of four-year institutions, 84 out of 127 classes (66.1%) expected such class participation. Regular attendance was required in 46 out of 49 community college syllabi (93.9%) and 101 out of 127 (79.5%) four-year college syllabi. Only 4 of the two-year college syllabi and 3 of the four-year institution syllabi explicitly stated that "attendance was not required." Thirty-five out of 49 community college syllabi (71.4%) asked students to purchase more than one text; in the case of four-year colleges, 115 out of 127 syllabi (90.6%) contained this stipulation. |
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How do these statistics compare with institutions in North Carolina? During January-February 1996, I surveyed two-and-four-year institutions throughout the state. I sent requests for syllabi to 61 two-year schools; 21 institutions responded with 57 syllabi dealing with Western Civilization, World Civilization, or United States History surveys. These included: |
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Bladen Community College (Dublin)
Blue Ridge Community College (Flat Rock)
Cape Fear Community College (Wilmington)
Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte)
Craven Community College (New Bern)
Davidson Community College (Lexington)
Durham Technical Community College (Durham)
Edgecombe Community College (Tarboro)
Halifax Community College (Weldon)
Johnston Community College (Smithfield)
Lenoir Community College (Kinston)
Nash Community College (Rocky Mount)
Randolph Community College (Asheboro)
Richmond Community College (Hamlet)
Robeson Community College (Lumberton)
Rockingham Community College (Wentworth)
Southeastern Community College (Whiteville)
Tri-County Community College (Murphy)
Wake Technical Community College (Raleigh)
Wayne Community College (Goldsboro)
Wilkes Community College (Wilkesboro)
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I contacted 48 four-year institutions in North Carolina; 16 provided 53 syllabi dealing with Western Civilization, World Civilization, and United States History survey. These colleges and universities included: |
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Belmont Abbey College (Belmont)
Campbell University (Buies Creek)
Chowan College (Murfreesboro)
Davidson College (Davidson)
East Carolina University (Greenville)
Greensboro College (Greensboro)
Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte)
Lenoir Rhyne College (Hickory)
Meredith College (Raleigh)
Methodist College (Fayetteville)
North Carolina Central University (Durham)
University of North Carolina (Asheville)
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
University of North Carolina (Greensboro)
University of North Carolina (Wilmington)
Wingate University (Wingate)
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In the case of North Carolina two-year colleges, 56 out of 57 syllabi (98.2%) included at least three examinations or the equivalent as part of the course grade for the quarter or semester; with four-year institutions 49 out of 53 classes (92.5%) required three or more exams. Twenty-nine out of 57 two-year college syllabi (50.9%) cited an essay component in examinations; 26 out of 53 senior college classes (49.1%) did so. Concerning papers or projects, 49 out of 57 community college syllabi (86.0%) required some type of written work; professors at four-year institutions assigned papers in 46 out of 53 instances (86.8%). Twenty-one of 57 community college syllabi (36.8%) required active class participation; in the case of four-year institutions, 27 out of 53 classes (50.9%) mentioned such participation. Regular attendance was expected in 52 out of 57 community college syllabi (91.2%) and 49 out of 53 (92.5%) four-year college classes. Seventeen of 57 community college syllabi (29.8%) required students to purchase more than one text; in the case of four-year colleges, 45 out of 53 syllabi (84.9%) contained this stipulation. |
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These findings can be summarized in chart form: |
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History Syllabi Contents for California and
North Carolina Post-secondary Institutions
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CAL2 |
CAL4 |
NC2 |
NC4 |
| Three exams or more |
89.8% |
52.8% |
98.2% |
92.5% |
| Essay component to exams |
57.1% |
39.4% |
50.9% |
49.1% |
| Papers |
77.6% |
76.4% |
86.0% |
86.8% |
| Class Participation |
77.6% |
66.1% |
36.8% |
50.9% |
| Attendance |
93.9% |
79.5% |
91.2% |
92.5% |
| More than one text book |
71.4% |
90.6% |
29.8% |
84.9% |
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From these statistics, one can determine some variance between two-and four-year institutions: two-year colleges require more examinations and fewer textbooks than four-year institutions. As far as state-to-state differences are concerned, North Carolina instructors seem more likely to employ at least three examinations than those in California; those at California, however, require more texts. The percentage of syllabi including examinations with essay components appears fairly consistent on all levels, except for California four-year institutions. One could conjecture that class size and/or simple lack of inclusion on the syllabus could account for fewer essay examinations being cited for classes at large California universities. In spite of these differences, numbers for both states suggest that history courses, whether taught at institutions in California or North Carolina, will be challenging. Moreover, because some instructors are less than explicit when delineating course requirements, the number of syllabi including all of the aforementioned criteria may have been greater than I discovered. |
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As a former teacher and coach (1986-1991) at James Kenan High School in rural Duplin County, North Carolina, I know how challenging it is to prepare any but the most naturally gifted students for college. Various states make this all the more difficult by requiring end-of-course testing of a simplistic nature, making teachers spend too much time on mechanical multiple-choice exams instead of writing Document-Based Questions as is done in Advanced Placement classes. Then, too, principals demand that teachers try a lot of new time-consuming techniques that don't necessarily help prepare students effectively; I myself think that "cooperative learning" does not. And teachers must work with a classroom of students up and down the scale of educational background, many with rudimentary reading skills and no college aspirations. |
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My findings do confirm what many of us have known all along. High school students expecting to go on to higher education must, above all, be taught to write effectively. As a high school teacher, I have asked students to work on a family tree, required a book review, and taken students step-by-step through the researching, drafting, and revising of a term paper. Thus they learned to interpret historical evidence and experienced a variety of history writing beyond their textbooks. Not every student is a college-bound "scholar." But teaching with regular quizzes, essay examinations, and document-based papers, and using the Socratic discussion method, can bring make students of many backgrounds ready for college. Education is a disciplining process, and as educators, we owe it to ourselves to prepare our students for success. |
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* Linda Fields Martin, administrative assistant
at Campbell University's Carrie Rich Library and wife of the author,
assisted him with this article through research into California
college/university syllabi and course characteristics.
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