Undergraduates learn history from TV

I'm not sure how much credence to give the following, since the questions seem to have been asked of university instructors instead of posed directly to the students:

History students at university have studied their subject more from watching television than reading serious books, according to a survey of academics published today. Few new undergraduates have read any history books at all and many expect academics to entertain them with TV-style stories rather than serious lectures.

Most had far less historical knowledge than previous generations of A-level students, barring an “unwholesome” interest in Nazi Germany and other 20th-century dictatorships. Half of the 100 history departments at universities and higher education colleges responded to the eleventh annual survey by History Today magazine. It said that academics had offered “frank and often disturbing” insights into the state of knowledge of modern undergraduates.

Posted by David on July 20, 2003 9:06 PM