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Real Answers™
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Copyright: © 2007 Gary Hardaway
615 words

UNIVERSITIES SHOULD FOSTER 'DISCRIMINATION'

By: Gary Hardaway

Twenty years ago an eminent professor at the University of Chicago published a book about university education, aimed at academics and intellectuals involved in conveying culture to serious-minded Americans.

Much to his surprise, the book turned into a blockbuster. Allen Bloom, the author, quickly became a celebrity – and a one-man center of controversy. The Closing of the American Mind scathingly asserted that most university students were intellectually incapacitated, not by lack of gray matter but by a kind of lobotomy in their souls. His subtitle blamed the academy itself: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students.

In his view, students had lost the ability to think because they had been immersed in moral and cultural relativism. They had imbibed the doctrine that one cannot judge another’s sincerely held beliefs or values. One must be tolerant – “open” – to all persons, lifestyles, and ideas. To judge is offensive; to contradict is to condemn; to condemn is social treason (although condemning judgmental persons is OK).

Students sat through their classes without being willing – or able – to discriminate between true and untrue, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. In their debilitated condition students could only cling to the premise that “I’m OK, you’re OK.” Bloom heartily endorsed equipping students for thoughtful “discrimination.”

By placing “soul” in his title and argument Bloom obviously violated a taboo of political correctness. “Soul” implies that a human being is more than an accidental product of the primeval muck. It suggests essential personhood that transcends time and space and biology.

Sometimes it brings to mind biblical concerns such as that posed by Jesus: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? ” That kind of language hints that God exists and is involved in human life, death and eternal destiny. That is NOT welcomed in the circles of “openness” and “tolerance.”

In Bloom’s case, he did not actually mean the Judeo-Christian “soul” but rather the Greek ideal. Bloom’s source of inspiration was not the Bible but Plato. Even so, Plato still deeply offended the post-modern tribe because he taught absolutes: the True, the Good, the Beautiful. His writings point above and beyond this material plane to a higher realm of absolute perfection. Meanwhile, down on our level, Plato judged incessantly and found most of our mundane attitudes unworthy.

Bloom did our culture a valuable service. He sounded a much-needed alarm. He defied the spirit of the age and made some positive difference. How much difference is difficult to assess. Oppressive intolerance and “openness” continues to plague the American university.

Consider this soul-killing mission statement from a prominent Ivy League professor writing in the New York Times: “If they are not more confused and uncertain at the end of my courses than they were at the beginning, I have been a failure.” He glories in preventing students from gaining any certitude or wisdom about anything whatsoever. He does not intend to teach; he intends to subvert.

Parents of college-bound offspring need not despair. For some years The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has provided a comprehensive guide called “Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth about America’s Top Schools.” I recommend this resource for parents, counselors, teachers, and high school students contemplating university studies. Based on extensive investigation, it cuts through promotional fog and tells what’s going on, both good and bad, in the various departments of scores of institutions.

Young people today deserve more than mindless relativism. They deserve teachers who care about their souls, mentors who urge, “Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding . . .. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure.”

Gary Hardaway is executive director of Summit School of Ministry in Northwest Washington. He holds a Ph. D in foundations of education and is a member of the National Association of Scholars.  He has taught in universities in the USA, Lithuania and Canada. He holds a Ph. D. in foundations of education. "Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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