Victor Davis Hanson breaks down how universities operate (here). In this article he dissects the anatomy of the present day university and what he discovers is that underneath the still pristine shell, the guts have rotted out. He lays out a pretty grim picture of the situation, which definitely explains why so many of the college-educated wander out into the world filled to the brim with left-wing political indoctrination, but clueless on much else.
In 1910, Harvard’s president, Dr. Charles W. Eliot compiled a list of classic works of literature that became known as “the five-foot shelf” (here) He wanted to provide a guide whereby a persistent reader could acquire a fair understanding of the stream of the world’s thinking from antiquity to the modern. The goal was to provide the student with a sound understanding of man’s progress. All of the works on his list are available for free, so it’s possible to build a sturdy foundation just by working through the list. Various publishers sold versions of his collection and Dr. Eliot gave speeches promoting the idea that the average reader could acquire a sound “liberal education” by devoting just 15 minutes a day to reading through these works. We’d be in a better state, if today’s liberals actually did acquire a “classical liberal education”, but sadly most of them don’t even know what classical liberalism is and their brand of liberalism works to enslave the mind in rigid political ideology rather than open it up to differing viewpoints. Our colleges turned into political hothouses over the past several decades, where we force into bloom exotic types of political leftist ideology.
On another day, I’ll wade into the swamp of women’s studies and wrestle that alligator known as feminism, but for today suffice it say, allowing politics to pollute our educational system churns out more corrosive waste into society than that evil American industrial complex. It’s eating away at the very fabric of Western civilization!
To fix the problem these slugs of academia slither from academia to cushy government jobs, leaving a trail of grotesque PC slime in their wake (here). So, instead of moving back to teaching real history and great literature, the new idea is to insist 70% of the texts used in school are “informational texts” rather than literature. Was it Mark Steyn who quipped about offering extra credit to gifted students for tackling The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and hopefully America’s hope for the future, our best and brightest, can explain it to the rest of us? We’re now taking short-cuts to reach the end of American greatness. Don’t worry, the kids won’t even notice… they’re too busy texting “2MI” and BOOMS”. CUL….
libertybelle diaries 