News from the National Humanities Center

We're pleased to inform our readers that the National Humanities Center has released its latest newsletter. To download the Spring/Summer 2010 newsletter click here.

We call particular attention to the story on NHC Fellow Holly Brewer's efforts to reform secondary history curriculum:

"This spring Holly Brewer, the 2009–10 Walter Hines Page Fellow at the Center, found herself much in demand, not only for her scholarly expertise on early American intellectual and legal history, but also as a leading voice in discussions about reforming the history curriculum in North Carolina. While debates taking place in several states about history teaching attracted national attention, for instance over ideologically based changes adopted in Texas, in North Carolina the State Department of Public Instruction planned to cut history instruction sharply—to begin U.S. history in 1877 and world history in 1945 in high school, and to cut instruction in earlier grades as well. These cuts corresponded to a general de-emphasis on history throughout the curriculum, in response to a narrowing of the curriculum due to increasing pressure to test math and literacy."

We also call your attention to the fifth page where online seminars for teachers are listed for the 2010-2011 year. "The Center’s live, online education seminars continue to demonstrate their strong appeal, attracting nearly 500 teachers from 35 states to register for the 15 sessions offered in the spring and summer of 2010. This compares to 233 teachers from 20 states who participated in the 10 seminars offered in the fall of 2009." Go to this link to register today.