The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization Blog #1

Kelly Gilbert

HUMN 220

Professor B. Akmen

1/23/13

The Rise & Fall of Western Civilization

            I found this article to be very complex and hard to understand but what I got from it was that a course was introduced, known as Western Civilization, to a university. The introduction of this course was a big contribution to colleges and it was a big deal that this happened. The author explained how it was controversial whether Western Civilization should be a course in schools or not because some people don’t think they should have to take it. Many people feel they should have the option to take it or not take it. 

Personally, I feel that not every student should have to take Western Civilization. The students that should have to take it should be History or Anthropology majors. It’s a course that teaches people about how that civilization lives and how they’re different than one’s own civilization. That’s not something every student needs to know. That’s information that we will not need to know as adults in the real world.

I also was confused about how historians decided to put history programs into a pyramid without a base. I don’t understand how that works with advanced courses lacking the support of the introductory course. It just seems rather stupid, in my opinion. I don’t feel that historians making these decisions are thinking on behalf of all students.

I completely agreed with what the author said about needing to study the historical background up until the present debates in order to correctly study the rise and fall of the Western Civilization. I also feel that is the only way to appropriately understand how Western Civilization could be beneficial or not helpful.