EDUCATION BEYOND POLITICS
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The problem is that such terms have all but lost their meanings -
more precisely, they have often come to mean more or less the opposite
of what they once meant. For example, genuine innovation in education
today would look a lot more "conservative" and traditional than it did
forty years ago. This makes things difficult for those who cherish the la–
bel of liberalism as much as they champion its reality. But we must rec–
ognize that the union of moralism and radicalism, while hardly a novel
marriage, is particularly destructive in an institution dedicated to intellec–
tual inquiry. Not only does it foster an atmosphere of intimidation and
encourage tepid intellectual conformity, it also attacks the very basis for
the free exchange of ideas.
There is a more general consideration. Advocates of radical multi–
culturalism pretend that the enemies of multiculturalism are reactionary
ideologues who are attempting to suppress diversity and new ideas. Yet
the real battle is not between radicals and conservatives but between
radicals and what we might call old-style liberals. Or perhaps one should
say that the classical liberal position - which fought for such ideas as fac–
tual
accuracy, disinterested scholarship, and for advancement according to
merit, not adherence to a given political line - is now regularly casti–
gated as "conservative" and "reactionary." In this context, it is instructive
to note that many commentators with impeccable left-liberal credentials
regard the invasion of multiculturalism as an unmitigated educational
disaster.
Consider, for example, Irving Howe, not exactly everyone's idea of a
conservative thinker. Responding to a well-known female professor's
complaint that the classics of Western culture did not address her experi–
ence, Howe witheringly asked: "Why should they? And more to the
point, can her experience address the classics? One ... reason for reading
the classics is that they widen and deepen our experience, pulling us out
of the all-too-visible limits that any single self is likely to have. Precisely
the 'irrelevance' of the classics is what makes them relevant." Today, alas,
Howe's commonsensical plea for tradition would be rejected as hope–
lessly elitist, sexist, ethnocentric, etc. Arthur Schlesinger's new book on
multiculturalism,
The Disllniting of America,
has been treated to similar
abuse. At a recent meeting of the American Federation of Teachers in
Los Angeles, one prominent academic radical and proponent of
"diversity" condemned Mr. Schlesinger's book as right-wing propaganda
in sophisticated packaging, telling his audience that it belonged "in the
ashcan."
My conclusion is simply that whatever local differences we may en–
tertain, the problems posed by radical multiculturalism and political cor–
rectness are too serious to cede because of a concern about political la–
bels. It wasn't long ago that we were assured that the "end of history"
