Really, a question of who we are

One of the underlying concerns in every education issue is how we get to be where/who we are. What kind of values should we be teaching our children? What makes us successful? In my curriculum in higher education course, we realized that the debate over the “canon” and the “core curriculum” so heated is exactly this question of values. And while the right has been dominating much of the debate, if you examine their views, they’re incoherent. On one hand you have Lynne Cheney and William Bennett advocating for a return to the traditional curriculum of reading Shakespeare and studying the history of Western Europe and America (not, though, reading Greek and Latin); on the other hand, you have free market advocates who push for corporations to have as little regulation as possible.

I wonder who would be behind for-profit colleges in this scenario, besides colleges themselves, desperate to make money and running out of international students. If you didn’t know, they’re our cash cow.