November 24, 2000

Cultural Literacy Depends on Survey Courses

By GLENN C. ALTSCHULER and STUART M. BLUMIN

In a quiet revolution, the introductory survey course has become the unwanted stepchild of many humanities and social-science departments. At large, prestigious, research-oriented universities, which give their faculty members considerable discretion over what they teach, the survey course often falls to the faculty members who cannot say no to the chairman of their department: the newly hired assistant professor, the old codger whose principal reading matter is his quarterly TIAA-CREF