To the Editor:Re “By Dropping Civics, Colleges Gave Fuel to the Culture Wars,” by Debra Satz and Dan Edelstein (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 7):As a humanities professor for three decades, I am frequently amazed at the — dare I say — hubris of my colleagues when it comes to their estimate of their capacity to mold the conscience of the Republic.
Professors Satz and Edelstein believe that the decline in prevalence of “Western Civ” courses in the curriculum has been a key element in the degradation of our civic culture.
Their notion that some 40 hours of class time turned students’ souls toward the light is indeed touching, but highly unlikely.
They neglect to mention, for example, that in the days they look back on fondly, when freshmen wrestled with the eternal verities revealed by Socrates, these courses seldom moved Southern whites to rethink their subjugation of Black people, or Northern whites to call their Southern brothers and sisters to account.
Colleges can do many things, but turning the culture away from its immemorial vices is not one of them.
Persons:
Debra Satz, Dan Edelstein, Satz, Edelstein, Socrates
Organizations:
Civics, Colleges, Culture, Republic