"Ashamed that their first 12 years of schooling had mostly been wasted" (127d)

lively, dialogue implied, story sets problem

his language: specialization; others’ language: multiculturalism

"ideology has been imposed on the curriculum to a startling degree"

label of "Victimologies"

"Any male professor who comes to class without a jacket and tie should be regarded with extreme prejudice unless he has won a Nobel Prize."

"ordinary" courses


"The goal of education is to produce the citizen." (Matthew Arnold)

"The other great civilization was China, yet it lack the Athens-Jerusalem tension and dynamism"–implying it’s less worth of study as an ordinary course

I agree that in order to choose courses you first have to answer the central question of the goal you have for education.

Short, punchy paragraphs ("Neither Socrates nor Jesus...")

Am I happy that he’s made his students feel ashamed of their education?

I found myself entertained by this essay; easy to read.

I notice the judgment behind his word choice

I notice that he seems blind to his own ideology

Again, the judgment behind the words choice

He’s being funny, but he also seems so dismissive.

"Ordinary" is like normal, and labeling courses in this way makes others courses second-rate

Citizen of Western Civilization that equals European, but many of us are not from Europe

Put-down of other culture?

But he doesn't address the issues he raises:  he pronounces; he doesn't argue.