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College Curriculum

The student protests over the last few months have not only been about how a college administration responds to student demands, but it has been about changing the college curriculum. One example of that can be found at Columbia University. In a recent commentary, Dennis Prager reacts to some of these complaints.

A young black undergraduate complained in an article in the Columbia Daily Spectator about having to sit in a history class. She complained that: “It’s traumatizing to sit in Core classes. We are looking at history through the lens of these powerful, white men. I have no power or agency as a black woman, so where do I fit in?”

Dennis Prager begins by talking about the words she uses. This illustrates how successfully the university has indoctrinated students with leftist ideas and rhetoric. Who even uses the word “agency” the way she did? And she talks about it being “traumatizing” to learn about the finest ideas and art developed in Western culture.

She laments that the course is “looking at history through the lens of powerful, white men.” That shows that race trumps wisdom, beauty, and excellence. Let’s ignore the works of Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Bach. No need to study the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.

Dennis Prayer explains: “Whereas the Columbia core curriculum originally set out to teach the history of the West and the best art and literature that has been produced, the Left has succeeded in teaching that no art is better than any other.” It does this by promoting multiculturalism.

What was the reaction to this student’s complaints? As I mentioned in a previous commentary, most faculty and administration are cowards. The director of the core curriculum sided with the student but explained that you just have to learn to grow up learning about racist views.

You have to wonder what is worse: a student who thinks she is traumatized by studying history or a professor who is sympathetic to such an idea.

Viewpoints by Kerby Anderson

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