DAVID RJESMAN
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that there be a chance for conversation about them. I'm quite open to
which books they happen to be.
DB:
On the other side of the multiculturalism debate, though, are people
who strongly believe that there are universal standards which ought to
cross the boundaries of race and culture.
DR:
I agree. 1 very much want books - even though I am not commit–
ted to anyone group of books - but nevertheless the books should be se–
rious; they should be hard going. They should be, at best, involving -
engaging. And they should be shared among a cohort. Certainly not by
race or gender. 1 think of how important it is for the teacher to be able to
reach and engage students outside the boundaries of ethnicity or race or
gender or class, but I have no objection in principle to moving within the
boundaries if that is a way
to
connect with a particular student. However,
one should not make assumptions about what will connect to particular
students in advance. My sense of the matter is that much that is dished
out to students in public schools under the name of multiculturalism - or
even Afrocentrism - will engage only a very few activists among them, if
they are black, perhaps in order to be rebellious rather than by virtue of
actual engagement with the material. I don't imagine, for example, that
Ralph Ellison's
Invisible
Mml
will necessarily engage black boys and girls in
particular, but I was deeply engaged by it.
DB:
With regard to current social pressures, the flip side of the multicul–
turalism debate is the political correctness one. And it is also linked up
with issues of free speech.
DR:
Yes. Very much so. The more selective the institution the more
likely that there will be these preoccupations with political correctness.
DB:
Over the past thirty years, American education has become increas–
ingly targeted by political pressure groups. More and more we are finding
that our schools are seen as a mechanism to reform our culture, to either
restore traditional values or inculcate new values. It appears that the
problem is not so much a lack of vision, but the burden of too many
conflicting visions; the notion that the schools must be able to solve all of
our problems right away, at the snap of a finger.
DR:
I think I like what you say very much. You can't overstate the vul–
nerability of the schools. And that is new. The schools have much less
authority. They've become malleable - they've become utterly malleable,
