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David McCullough speaks at Founders Day convocation
BY MEGAN GRIGORIAN Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough celebrated a historic moment for the University of Mary Washington yesterday with a life lesson in the importance of history. McCullough was the keynote speaker at UMW's Centennial Founders Day Convocation, an event that also featured Gov. Tim Kaine and alumni representatives from classes back to 1936. Founders Day marks the date in 1908 that the Virginia General Assembly established the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Fredericksburg, named Mary Washington College in 1938. "There was a spark that day," Kaine said. "We cannot deny women educational opportunity." The ceremony traced important events in the university's 100-year history, from its charter to the recent hiring of Judy Hample as its first woman president. It is this love of history, McCullough said, that is important to an academic institution, its students and most importantly, its teachers. He called young Americans today "historically illiterate," since most college seniors share the same historical knowledge as high school sophomores of 20 years ago. To illustrate, McCullough said he was speaking at a college in California, when a student asked him which presidents besides John Adams he has interviewed for his biographies. He added that college students often forget that the 13 original colonies are on the East Coast. "The real problem with American education is us, all of us," McCullough said. "We have to show our children and grandchildren that the story of our country is important to us." At some universities, history is not a requirement for graduation, a core problem in higher education, McCullough said. Teachers can graduate from college without a concentration or major besides education. Without a passion for a subject, McCullough said, students will not truly learn. "You can't love something you don't know," he said. "So those teachers that don't know history, can't love it." To change the course history is now taking, McCullough advocated for a closer relationship between parents and teachers. He stressed the need for home and school to work together so learning can be constant. "Let's do everything we can to teach them to have ambition to excel," he said. Megan Grigorian:
Date published: 3/15/2008
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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