As all eyes are on the Trump administration’s battle with the Ivy League, the states continue to make major strides in higher education reform. Even the Trump administration’s most ambitious demands do not include mandating specific courses or texts as graduation requirements. States, however, have this power. It’s an authority the states have exercised since the beginning of the Republic. The decision by increasing numbers of states to mandate “general education” courses (i.e. courses required for graduation) is one of the most encouraging recent trends in higher education reform.
Earlier this year, for example, Utah mandated four semesters of Western civilization, American History, and American Civics as graduation requirements at Utah State University, likely soon to be generalized to every public university in the state. In 2023, the Florida state legislature also reshaped graduation requirements by adding a focus on Western civilization. And in 2021, South Carolina passed the Reclaiming College Education On America’s Constitutional Heritage (or REACH) Act, which establishes a U.S. History and Civics course that includes readings such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, selections from the Federalist Papers, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail as a graduation requirement at all state universities. A final exam on the required readings must count for at least 20 percent of the students total course grade.
North Carolina may soon follow suit by passing a REACH Act of its own this session. The required readings in North Carolina House Bill 7 would be similar to those in South Carolina, with the Gettysburg Address, George Washington’s Farewell Address, and the North Carolina State Constitution added. What a wonderful step forward passage of HB 7 would be.
A similar bill was floated in North Carolina last year, but stalled before final passage. Many faculty at UNC complained, arguing that their academic expertise, rather than the judgment of the legislature, should be determinative. This argument is misplaced. The choice between a graduation requirement on, say, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion or American History and Civics is primarily a question of values, not academic expertise. That is why graduation requirements regularly require approval from politically appointed or popularly elected boards of trustees. That is also why state legislatures have the well attested power to mandate general education courses.
Thomas Jefferson, who famously called on Virginia’s state legislature to mandate required courses of study for William and Mary and his own University of Virginia, well understood that education for liberty is central to the purpose of America’s colleges and universities. If North Carolina’s legislature affirms this truth by passing the REACH Act, it will be a matter for celebration. When it comes to higher education, there are still some things that only states can do. To have four states in rapid succession advance general education reform could supercharge an already escalating national trend.
Nor should North Carolina stop with passage of the REACH Act. The more ambitious model General Education Act could transform one of the campuses in North Carolina’s public system into a center of classic “great books” learning. That would give North Carolina students and their families a real choice. (North Carolina’s Martin Center for Academic Renewal endorses and sponsors both the REACH Act and the General Education Act.) In any case, passage of the North Carolina REACH Act would be a tremendous first step.