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PARTISAN rUVIEW
tressed at the implicati o n that o ne is somehow fo rced to choose sides in
this deba te, that th e cho ice is, so to speak , between th e G rea t Books of
W estern C ivili za ti o n conceptio n o f hi gher edu ca ti o n o n o ne side , and
the Studi es of the Vi ctims o f W estern Imperi ali st O ppress io n o n th e
o ther.
A second disturbing fea ture is that the issues being argued abo ut, for
th e most part , are no t th e maj o r problems in Ameri ca n hi gher edu ca–
ti o n . I teach several courses a year, and th ese iss ues arc no t really li ve is–
sues in my teaching. I di scuss philosophi ca l problems, w itho ut any rega rd
to the issues in th e "grea t debate." And leaving as ide qu esti o ns of cur–
ri culum , we have many mo re seri ous problems than multi culturali sm. W e
have that permanent problem in Ameri can hi gher edu ca ti on: T here is
no t eno ugh mo n ey . Furthermo re, students come in unprepared , w ith
poo r En glish and math skill s, little info rmati o n , and no wo rk habits.
An o th er bas ic problem is that many of o ur Ph.D .'s are hav ing a hard
time ge tting j obs. In th e state of Califo rni a th ere is a spec ial probl em
that hardly anyon e has even remarked o n : In seve ral o f th e uni versity
citi es, new fac ulty members canno t affo rd to buy houses. An o ther prob–
lem seldom remarked o n is that many uni ve rsities in th e United States
prac ti ce certain fo rms o f rac ial discriminati o n against white males. T his is
overt in the case o f undergraduate admi ss io ns. It is present , th ough less
explicitl y so, in the hiring of fac ulty members, but there is no question
that white males arc disc riminated aga inst. I rega rd thi s as unacceptable,
and I beli eve the day will come whe n we will be deepl y as hamed of
having all owed it to occur, as we are now ashamed o f previ ous fo rms of
di scriminati o n . H ow ever, here I am go ing to address myself mostly to
th e iss ues in " th e grea t debate, " th o ugh I will have somethi ng
to
say
about some of these o ther issues in concl usion .
I no ted that the debate was di sappo inting, but I beli eve it can be
made mo re interesting if we approac h it from a th eo reti cal po int of
view. By chall enging th e ass umpti o ns behind the traditi o nal conception
o f a liberal edu ca ti o n , th e academi c le ft fo rces us to reexamine those as–
sumpti ons . Even th e most conservati ve among us w ill be fo rced
to
arti CLI–
late them , to try to justi fy th em , and perhaps even to alter th em. Since I
do no t know o f a neutral vocabulary , I will desc ribe th e debate as be–
tween the " defenders" and th e "challenge rs" of the traditi o n . I rea li ze
that there is a great dea l of va ri ety o n each side and mo re than one de–
bate go ing on, but I am go in g to try to expose some common co re as–
sumpti ons of each side, ass umptio ns seldom stated explicitl y but which
fo rm th e un stated premi ses behind the en thymemes that each si de tends
to usc. Let us start by stating naivel y th e traditi o nalists' view of hi gher
educati on and, equally naively, th e most obvi o us of the chall engers' ob–
j ec ti ons to it. This will , I hope, enable us to ge t in to th e deeper features
