Call me cynical, but it’s my belief that any effort to promote a curriculum focused on traditional values in today’s academic culture will be promptly and thoroughly sabotaged by those assigned to teach it—which is why I think the best bet for traditionalists is to refocus on the Enlightenment inspired “temple of science” vision of a university, which at least has the virtue of being value-neutral.
Let’s say that the American Council of Trustees and Alumni realizes one of its goals: persuading colleges and universities to make a course in American history part of the core curriculum. What sort of course will it be, given the current ideological proclivities of faculty?
Perhaps it will be like this one:
Race, Empire, and U.S. Foreign Policy: U.S. foreign policy from the 1890s to the present using the lenses of empire and race.
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