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I recall having drinks in 1990 with a 30 year-old Ivy League grad in Manhattan, an up-and-coming type, somewhere in the intersection of Wall Street and politics
by jackfoxy 13y ago
I recall having drinks in 1990 with a 30 year-old Ivy League grad in Manhattan, an up-and-coming type, somewhere in the intersection of Wall Street and politics, can't remember exactly what he did. He was adamant about cutting off the western cultural canon in education and repeatedly used Homer as an example of its irrelevance. His theme was we should be teaching young people about other cultures because the world will be ever more connected, there are more people from non-western cultures in the world, blah, blah, blah. He was real up front about this being social engineering. My Ivy League companion who had introduced us thought I was a real jerk for arguing with him. History has shown high culture surviving the most determined political onslaughts because it has intrinsic value.
- saraid216 13y ago"High culture" != "Western cultural canon".
- mathattack 13y agoIt shouldn't be either/or. It shouldn't be either Western or Eastern. It's shouldn't be literature or non-fiction. It shouldn't be arts or sciences. It's possible to study the Odyssey and Tales of Genji, and learn facts about the historical context of both. For better or worse, my undergrad was more a case of "neither" and I've been in catch-up mode ever since. Perhaps that was a lot due to my own short-sightedness in course selection.
- yetanotherphd 13y agoI don't 100% see the relevance to this article, but your post is a timely reminder that rich elites are more likely to be engaging in progressive forms of social engineering. The Koch brothers are notable because they are an exception.