KINDER'S COMMENTARY: HIGHER EDUCATION IS TARGET TOO

I wish I could say that the school wars described in this space over the last year are limited to the tender and impressionable kindergarten-12 years. They aren't. The aggressive dumbing-down of many of America's schools has its analogue in our institutions of higher learning, as well. As proof of how bad things are getting, we are indebted to a courageous band of tradition-minded college and university professors who call themselves the National Association of Scholars.

The NAS group is attempting to strengthen true academic standards. "This month," wrote former Treasury Secretary William Simon last week, the NAS issued "a devastating report detailing the extent to which our leading colleges and universities have dismantled the rigorous course requirements that students once had to meet to graduate." It is important to emphasize that the NAS study focused on what Simon calls 50 of America's "leading undergraduate institutions."

Simon's article, entitled "The Dumbing Down of Higher Education," is depressing as it chronicles the results of granting tenure to the radicals and hippies of a generation ago. As these fringe crazies have moved into positions of power within our universities, they have cast aside standards in favor of ridiculous fads and "politically correct" nonsense. Simon, again: "Instead of the core curriculum required of freshmen and sophomores only a generation ago, built around English literature, the history of Western civilization, foreign languages, science, mathematics and, yes, even religion, students in our leading colleges today are increasingly turned loose to sample a smorgasbord of trendy courses that would astound and dismay both students and faculty of the 1960s. The number of required courses in the liberal arts has dropped significantly since the early 1960s. Foreign language requirements have been eliminated at many of our best institutions.

"The study reports many other indicators of erosion of academic purpose in our colleges and universities. The average length of the school year, for example, has fallen to 156 days from 191 days in 1964. The proportion of institutions with Saturday classes fell to just 6 percent in 1993 from 79 percent in 1964, and the report suggests that even Friday classes are becoming rare on some campuses. The length of the average class period also fell by several months over the same period. ...

"Late last year, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported that Georgetown University will no longer require its English majors to read the works of Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer. In their place, Georgetown will offer such uplifting alternatives as 'History and Theories of Sexuality,' 'Unspeakable Lives: Gay and Lesbian Narratives,' and 'Women, Revolution and the Media.' Shakespeare must be cast aside, according to Prof. John Glavin, because 'we want students to be aware that there are problems in Shakespeare's plays with the way women are portrayed.'"

Simon concludes, hopefully "Fortunately, with the help of groups like the National Association of Scholars, parents, students and the general public are waking up. Public officials are beginning to ask hard questions about the value taxpayers get for their investment in higher education. They are demanding an emphasis on timeless fundamentals built around the study of Western thought and civilization; a faculty dedicated to teaching; and a firm resistance to silly courses that will leave graduates fit for little more than sidewalk cafe arguments and protest marches."

Those who want to reverse the decline of traditional liberal arts education must realize that the war for our schools is engaged on many fronts. Bill Simon and the National Association of Scholars have identified one of the most pivotal battlefronts in that war. They could sure use some able and energetic recruits.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.