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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Catalysts For Change: The Sacralizing Impulse Of The Second Great Awakening And Its Transformative Impact On American Higher Education, Blake S. Hart Apr 2024

Catalysts For Change: The Sacralizing Impulse Of The Second Great Awakening And Its Transformative Impact On American Higher Education, Blake S. Hart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation delves into the profound impact of the Second Great Awakening on American higher education and its enduring social consequences. Examining the period from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, the research uncovers the core belief that drove the Awakening—that America and its citizens were chosen for a divine purpose, endeavoring to manifest the kingdom of heaven on Earth. It explores how Protestant-led revivalism and social reform movements fueled by this core belief influenced the establishment and evolution of American higher education. Through in-depth case studies of Andover Theological Seminary, Lane Seminary, and Oberlin College, the research …


Thomas Jefferson: Slavery, Education, And The Public Mind, Brendan Lenahan Dec 2023

Thomas Jefferson: Slavery, Education, And The Public Mind, Brendan Lenahan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Thomas Jefferson’s autobiography reveals his continual struggle against slavery and his frustration at the resistance of the “public mind” in Virginia, predominantly composed of slave-owning aristocrats. Despite vocal condemnations of slavery, attempts to translate his anti-slavery stance into formal documents faced significant resistance from the society he aimed to change. Even within the House of Burgess, Jefferson's support for a bill allowing individual slave owners to free their slaves was met with contempt. His draft of the Declaration of Independence, condemning the King for slavery, was revised by delegates, impeded by both northern financiers of the slave trade and southern …


Historical Understanding In The U.S. Constitution, Kristopher W. Chesterman Jul 2023

Historical Understanding In The U.S. Constitution, Kristopher W. Chesterman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

How did the America’s Founding Fathers use historical knowledge to inform their actions and decisions that ultimately led to the creation of the Constitution? This dissertation begins to answer this question by providing context to the Framers’ education on both colonial and personal levels. Starting with exposure to historical content through learning Greek and Latin, this research explores the depth of historical knowledge possessed by the Founders and how they used that knowledge to explain their thoughts and ideas throughout the tumultuous years surrounding the American Revolutionary War. This aspect of the Constitution’s formation is overshadowed by the prominence of …


The Growth Of Human Capital And The Progressive Education Movement In Houston, Texas: A History Of Houston Independent School District, 1876–1970, Wesley Patrick Jackson Mar 2023

The Growth Of Human Capital And The Progressive Education Movement In Houston, Texas: A History Of Houston Independent School District, 1876–1970, Wesley Patrick Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The progressive education movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century made terrific strides in modernizing and improving education for all races in Houston, Texas. This movement embraced a democratic platform of participation and engagement for all citizens, which affected America’s social, political, and economic future for decades and gave rise to many future movements. The root of progressive politics was in the participation of a diverse and active population, social progress, and industrial development, of which Houston had a plethora in the early goings of the twentieth century. Where did this progressive assault begin? Was it a grassroots …


The Influence On American Post-Secondary Education By United States Military And Veteran Programs Resulting From Changing Technology, Reform-Minded Leaders, And Large Military Operations, Scot Douglas Cates Dec 2022

The Influence On American Post-Secondary Education By United States Military And Veteran Programs Resulting From Changing Technology, Reform-Minded Leaders, And Large Military Operations, Scot Douglas Cates

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Scholars have explored the United States military from the lens of battles, campaigns, operations, and leaders with depth and zeal. When discussing the influence of the Army on education in America, the G.I. Bill is consistently the main topic of conversation. However, the contributions of the Army to American higher education are much more complicated than simply the passage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. A wide variety of programs and efforts championed by the Army during the first half of the twentieth century lack in-depth research and analysis. This study examined the American military transformation from the American …


Oral History: A Tool For The Elementary And Middle Classroom, Jessica Keiser Apr 2022

Oral History: A Tool For The Elementary And Middle Classroom, Jessica Keiser

Senior Honors Theses

Modern historical instruction requires educators to cover broad expanses of history and prepare students for standardized testing. In the push to meet state standards and cover the vast curriculum in short periods of time, many educators have begun to teach to the textbook. Much to the detriment of students, this educational practice has favored periodization and content quantity over the development of crucial historical skills. Rather than adhering to popular education trends, teachers can consider implementing oral history projects within their elementary and middle school classrooms. Oral history is a methodology that employs first-hand accounts to teach about key historical …


Investigating The Prevailing Worldviews Of American Public Education: A Brief Analysis And History, Chester Walker Apr 2021

Investigating The Prevailing Worldviews Of American Public Education: A Brief Analysis And History, Chester Walker

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis investigates whether the philosophies and worldviews underlying U.S. public education contradict or purposefully undermine Biblical Christianity. It provides readers with an understanding of the Biblical Christian worldview to enable them to analyze and contrast prominent worldviews of public education. Pragmatism and Marxism run rampant in public education today. Both strongly oppose fundamental tenets of the Biblical Christian worldview. To determine any purposeful anti-Christian agenda, the author examines the men behind the worldviews. Christianity maintains that ideas and practices in education originate from deeply-held, personal beliefs, which are passed on to students. Education is a means of discipleship to …


A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener Jan 2020

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …


Preserving Dance Forms In India Through Education And Performance: A Curriculum For Bollywood Dance, Kimberly Martin May 2013

Preserving Dance Forms In India Through Education And Performance: A Curriculum For Bollywood Dance, Kimberly Martin

Masters Theses

This project is a practical curriculum of Bollywood dance that can be used to assist in the preservation of dance forms in India through education and performance. The goal of this curriculum is to systematically equip dancers of all ages with the basic knowledge and experiences needed to excel as dancers and choreographers of Bollywood dance. This will be achieved through practical experience that is built from the basics of Bollywood dance and founded in classical tradition and theory as presented in Bharat Natyam. This curriculum is broken up into four sixteen-week semesters and covers a series of steps, basics …