History
"Education...has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading."
-G.M. Trevelyan (1876-1962)
Why should you take history courses at JSCC? JSCC offers students interested in college transfer and personal enrichment high quality history courses, an area of emphasis for those majoring in the academic field of history at a four-year institution, core courses for the general education requirements for those seeking higher education degrees, and a variety of ways to complete courses both in and out of the classroom. Traditional lecture courses, college-by-videocassette, and special topics are offered, but the primary purpose of the courses taught at JSCC is to provide college level survey courses to the people of JSCC's West Tennessee multi-county service area. Students will not only conduct research in history courses at JSCC , they will memorize, analyze, synthesize, and provide written discourse on historical literature and documents. Many history majors become lawyers, teachers, academics, politicians, film directors, writers, and well rounded citizens that many corporations seek out.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana (1863-1952)
Mission Statement
The history courses offered at JSCC are concerned primarily with understanding the human past objectively, the truth based upon verifiable facts, the world's civilizations, our American heritage, and the history of Tennessee. It is our belief that history not only enlightens the citizenry to their positive past and past imperfections, but that history provides understanding of the human past free from political and inculcated biases, and produces an educated citizenry capable of understanding today's increasingly complex global interaction. In addition, we are concerned with gathering and analyzing the facts of the human past objectively, and as a product of that effort, we endeavor to answer some of the profound forces and problems of history and the diverse human past.
"The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity."
- Tacitus (55-122)
New textbooks for all US history sections beginning fall 2008:
The Unfinished Nation, To 1877, 5th Edition (ISBN 978-0-07-330701-5)
The Unfinished Nation, Since 1865, 5th Edition (ISBN 978-0-07-330702-2)