668
PARTISAN REVIEW
can I change the conditions which promote that unproductive view–
point?"
It is not prejudice that is devastating our society and world, it is
more the lack of concern for other people that underlies the pre–
judice . You have seen my biases . The question is how we can each
overcome our own biases and help solve the problems of our com–
munities and world .
EDUCATIONAL DISASTER AT
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
-Bill
King
The course in Western Culture will no longer exist at
Stanford University as of the Fall of 1989.
It
will be replaced by a
course in Cultures, Ideas and Values in which only six of the re–
quired great classics of the original fifteen will be retained and which
will be oriented to the study of race, sex and class ...
Certain issues of transcendent importance for American higher
education have emerged from the current controversy at Stanford
University over the required course in Western Culture. These are
not essentially related to whether the title of the course should be
changed to Cultures, Ideas and Values; or to whether a core cur–
riculum of great books should be mandatory for all students ; or
whether there should be one required course or a required distribu–
tion of courses from various disciplines. These are to be sure impor–
tant educational questions but in accordance with American tradi–
tional practices, they can be left to the faculties of different
universities to resolve them. Each institution in addition to its com–
mitment to imparting a liberal education to its students has its own
history, traditions, and specific goals that will be reflected in the out–
come of faculty discussion .
What is noteworthy about what happened at Stanford is that ,
despite allegations to the contrary, the course in Western Culture or
Civilization has not been merely repackaged or revised . It has been
radically converted into a politically diluted course in sociology . The
concepts of race, sex, and class are perfectly legitimate notions and
like a cluster of other concepts such as state , nation, and kinship ,
