Teaching History in Business Education

Abstracts

Individual judgments regarding the appropriate intellectual content for effective education in business are often suspect on grounds that too frequently they rest on unstated assumptions. To preclude censure on this score, explicit mention is made of two premises which sustain this inquiry and influence its final outcome. In the first instance, there is agreement with the authors of the widely publicized Ford Study in their repeated stress on “the importance to businessmen of historical perspective, breadth and flexibility of mind, and awareness of and ability to adjust to a continuously changing environment.” Commenting on this point, one distinguished observer added that “one who undertakes to teach antitrust laws without regard for the historical background out of which these laws emerged is not only ignoring an opportunity to teach much about the business world just prior to, and immediately after the turn of the century, but also is doing a poor job in teaching current applications of the law.”

Excerpts from “Business History: Some Major Challenges,” The Business History Review, vol. XXXVI, Number 1, Spring 1962.