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Liberal Education: External Influences and Internal Conflicts
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14559 |
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MODERN THOUGHT
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3 / 1988 |
6,119 Words |
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Ciriaco M. Arroyo
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Attitudes toward American higher education range from self complacent pride to outright criticism. The former is usually expressed in festive speeches and the reports of university presidents to faculties and boards. These addresses should not be dismissed by the objective critic; although in general they are not sufficiently extensive and analytical, they contain valid information that is important for a balanced appraisal of higher education in America. While complacency must be avoided if a zest for constant improvement is going to be maintained, it is necessary to appreciate the many positive aspects of our system of higher education to determine the areas that need change. The U.S. News and World Report of October 26, 1987, made the following statement, which I fully accept: "Whatever the criticisms of U.S. education, in any list of world-class universities most of the entries come from among America's 200-odd 'national' universities." And a few pages earlier: "It is this richness and variety that has made U.S. higher education the envy of so many students in other countries and why this year more than 300,000 of them are enrolled in American colleges and universities." Anyone familiar with European universities will accept these statements without hesitation. And yet....
Higher education and academic life in America seem to be suffering from a profound crisis of identity and purpose. The system's critics, who point to its visible deficiencies, are perhaps less numerous than its admirers, but they tend to be more rigorous and systematic in their approach. The most conspicuous critic during the last year has been Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind. If doubts linger as to the precise meaning of his title, the subtitle is apt to dispel them: "How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students."
The first thing to be said about the book is that it is much more than a criticism of American higher education; it intends to promote an ideal of American identity based on John Locke's theories about man and government. Locke was called a rationalist because he opposed the traditional image of society as founded upon a hierarchy inherited from theology, envisioning instead a social order based on reason. That rational order was the order of nature itself. "Nature should be the standard by which we judge our own lives and the lives of peoples" (p.38). "The United States is one of the highest and most extreme achievements of the rational quest for the good life according to nature" (p. 39). Nature intimates equality and the freedom of each individual to pursue his rational goals, an open opportunity to learn.
According to Bloom, the prevailing American mindset represents a reversal of that of the Founding Fathers. Today's openness is pure relativism, as Locke's rationalism based on nature has been replaced by a "German connection," an irrationalist and nihilistic vein of thought that pervades our vision of the world and the educational system. In spite of certain disclaimers, Bloom sees the current situation as the result of a decline from better times. He believes the sixties brought about the "decomposition of the university" (p. 347), and that a misguided egalitarian philosophy, a side effect to democracy, was largely responsible. Egalitarianism has led us to question the traditional criteria for established canons and to substitute trendy fashions for "traditional" materials and courses.
In pinpointing the crisis of education, fundamental
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