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incredible challenges, both from the hosts and from those who called in.
Some of them hardly knew how to spell my name, others were entirely
knowledgeable. One started out by saying that we all know that eighty
percent of tax dollars go for education, and immediately put me on the
defensive. In Boston, I was kept for two hours and the host and I had a
real dialogue. One caller asked if I was familiar with black history, that
after all civilization had started in Africa. On the other extreme, one
person called in and said yes we do have to change what's going on, and
what about introducing corporal punishment. The point is that we really
have an incredible range out there of thinking about what happens in
universities. I think the media could do much more to inform people.
Abigail Thernstrom:
But remember the limits of indoctrination. The
Soviets and East European press tried to shove communist propaganda
down the throats of the populace, and it didn't take. Those of us who
are parents try to shove propaganda down our kids' throats; it doesn't
take.
Arthur Schlesinger:
Children are too smart. They're rather cynical on
the whole. I don't think a whole generation is being fooled. In the
communist states, people had no alternative, and still they did not suc–
ceed.
William Phillips:
I think there's no doubt that there will be change,
but can we be sure it will be change for the better? As I understand it,
deconstruction is very much on the decline. It no longer has the position
it had at the universities.
Heather MacDonald:
It's developed in many other forms. It may not
call itself deconstruction, but there's a grab bag of ways of reading
literature these days which have been influenced by deconstruction.
Is
there any connection between what professors are saying and what stu–
dents are learning? It seems that now the discussion's going to the op–
posite extreme, which is, "Well, it doesn't really matter." Are we simply
concerned about freedom of speech among professors?
Abigail Thernstrom:
It's just a message
to
keep things in perspective.
We're not saying it doesn't matter.
Arthur Schlesinger:
It matters, but it's not the end of the world.
Roger Kimball:
I don't know anybody who's saying it's the end of
the world.
