National Endowment for the Humanities
September 2002
As we reported in last week's Gadfly, President Bush recently announced two new government initiatives to invigorate the teaching of American history, civics and culture. (See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=41#594.) One of these initiatives is "We the People," proffered by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to combat the historical illiteracy of young Americans by building knowledge, celebrating heroes and challenging young people. A three-pronged initiative, "We the People" consists of a call for applications to NEH for projects exploring major themes and events in American history; an annual lecture by "a scholar or an individual whose heroism has helped to protect America"; and an essay contest for high school juniors. The initiative will expand to include assistance for schools and universities to improve their teaching of U.S. history, more opportunities for teacher education, special exhibits and an annual conference. For more information, see http://www.wethepeople.gov.
