Western Civ as a College Requirement?

The Stanford Review has announced that a petition to reinstate the study of Western Civilization as a core requirement for all students has collected 

"over 370 signatures, qualifying it for the spring ASSU elections ballot in April."

The Review‘s petition will be voted on between April 7 and 8 by the Stanford undergraduate population. Vote for Western Civilization!
 

Sure, Western Civilization produced more than weapons. But it got your attention, didn't it?

After more than 20 years without this requirement, Stanford may now return this study, that of our own history, to the curriculum. Nothing occurs in a vacuum, certainly not education.  Whether a student is planning to be a psychologist or a chemical engineer, they deserve to know from whence their disciplines came.  Surely other civilizations played roles in the history of knowledge, but it is through the lens of Western Civilization that we perceive them; as the US is a product and a producer of Western Civ.  


Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/34294

 

A Remarkable and Sobering Observation

The following quote came from the comments section of a blog I read, written by an author of sci-fi and a devout Catholic. 

Otherwise, another great essay. I was struck by your point that the young SF/F reader is far more detached than we were (I was born in the same year as you) from the history of the genre, going back well over a century even before you look at the deep roots that go back over millennium. They have been carefully trained either not to realize this fact or to regard it as no loss. Their imaginative pallets are therefore inevitably impoverished.

Comment by Andrew Brew, on http://www.scifiwright.com/2015/10/my-elves-are-different-or-erlkoenig-and-appendix-n/

Wow. Just wow. Detached from the history of a thing they claim to embrace, and either don't know or don't care that there's so much more to be experienced. That is a heart-achingly sad idea, but I have no doubt that the commenter is correct. And not just about science fiction & fantasy. 

I see this as equally true about modern American Christianity. So does Rod Dreher, writer for (among other things) The American Conservative. In an article entitled  Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and the Failure of Church Leadership  Dreher writes:

"I was around not long ago when [this] teenager was talking about how bored he was with church, and thought, yep, this kid is going to walk away from church when he’s a senior, or when he goes to college, and is going to think he has figured Christianity out, and it’s boring and stupid, when in fact she was barely even introduced to real Christianity."

 And that should make you weep.
 

Free College? TANSTAAFL, buddy.

Some political candidates these days are suggesting that, like certain European countries, we should make college "free" to students. That idea's been around for a while, the MOOC and Open University concepts have been floating around higher ed for years. While the concept may eventually be made workable, something that becomes obvious even from a casual inspection is that all this 'free' education is not free.

The cost burden has simply been shifted from the students to others. Usually, that other group is you and me, the tax-payers. If the current candidates get their way (a big if, I say) it will be no different. Federal money (all of which it gets from us) poured in 50-gallon drums into the pockets of universities still has to come from somewhere. 

Here's another thing, too. 

What happens to a thing when you make it free?  The people who have access to the thing conclude that you now believe that the thing is of little or no inherent value. If the holder/creator of a thing thinks it valuable, that person will sell it to you - exchange value for value. This is, with almost no exception, the way humankind has operated since the days of barter.

When you take something formerly of value and declare it to be free, you are in effect stating that it is no longer of value.

https://www.aei.org/publication/dont-believe-in-free-college-as-a-panacea/
and
http://www.aei.org/publication/free-college-not-so-fast/

A thing that is of no value to the giver, is of little to no value to the receiver. Please explain to me how much the typical student enrolled in our 'free' and compulsory education system value the experience they are required to have.

I look at college students at my own school and note how many of them are more interested in their hobbies and parties and smart phones than they are in the incredibly expensive undertaking in which they find themselves. It was the same when I was in school myself - many acted as though going to class and getting an education was the last thing on their minds.

So don't make college free!  Make it less expensive (I've my own theories on that) but not free.

Western Civilization and Prosperity

Continuing on with my recent theme about Western Civilization, here's a TED Talk on the question of why the West has been so very good at creating prosperity, in comparison to the rest of the world. It's not geography, it's not even culture exactly.

Ferguson lists six factors which exist in the West more than elsewhere that contribute to prosperity:

So you're into opera now?

Maybe. I've recently signed up to get The Critic's Notebook, "Weekly recommendations from the editors of The New Criterion on what to read, see, and hear in the world of culture."

This week they recommend that I get tickets to the Metropolitan Opera to watch Maria Stuarda, which I'm guessing is about Mary Stuart, queen of England, better known as Mary Queen of Scots. 

Obviously this is from before she gets her head cut off.

I am not a fan of opera; but I'm not opposed to it either. The Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera is about as close as I get to opera most of the time, but I (and you) should be willing to give it a try.

Here's a video still from the Met's website:

I can't get the video to work, so follow the link at the top and scroll down to it. Or try this YouTube video.

Because Western Culture is worth celebrating.