tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post2749734055023089250..comments2023-10-31T03:18:26.963-07:00Comments on Great Guys Weblog: Yes, he went there!Brethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-54790046433985728142016-04-26T16:03:47.207-07:002016-04-26T16:03:47.207-07:00... What about a neo-cultural revolution. Send al...... What about a neo-cultural revolution. Send all intellectuals into the.lfields.erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-84592295371910974492016-04-26T11:02:32.348-07:002016-04-26T11:02:32.348-07:00... isn't cruel and unusual punishment forbidd...... isn't cruel and unusual punishment forbidden by the Constitution?erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-13844722929666382392016-04-26T10:52:16.013-07:002016-04-26T10:52:16.013-07:00Then ship 'em off to Venezuela (or Cuba) for a...<i>Then ship 'em off to Venezuela (or Cuba) for a year of "field work".</i><br /><br />If they don't get it then, at least we tried...Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14980738175201874292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-84187667162572587982016-04-26T06:03:49.302-07:002016-04-26T06:03:49.302-07:00In that case, maybe we should force-feed 'em M...In that case, maybe we should force-feed 'em Mao. <br /><br />Have them memorize the Little Red Book and force them recite it 24/7 (with bathroom breaks).<br /><br />Then have 'em memorize Engels til it comes out of their ears. <br /><br />Then ship 'em off to Venezuela (or Cuba) for a year of "field work".<br /><br />Yep, that oughtta work!Barry Meislinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04795125774426217113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-39721309583137705902016-04-21T20:04:37.215-07:002016-04-21T20:04:37.215-07:00European intellectuals of the late 19th and early ...<i>European intellectuals of the late 19th and early 20th century who gravitated to Marxism and socialism in huge numbers were very well-educated in the Classics.</i><br /><br />They certainly were, but now we can also teach about the <a href="http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-treason-of-the-intellectuals----ldquo-The-Undoing-of-Thought-rdquo--4648" rel="nofollow">nihilism that seems inherent in their treason</a>.<br /><br />It's probably a good idea to offer intro. level Western Civ. at the high school level.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14980738175201874292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-9330314053480422792016-04-21T08:31:12.385-07:002016-04-21T08:31:12.385-07:00I agree with Bret. The underlying fallacy here is...I agree with Bret. The underlying fallacy here is that force-feeding Western Civ (a.k.a. "our roots") to students would result in their gravitation to the politics favoured by the author. European intellectuals of the late 19th and early 20th century who gravitated to Marxism and socialism in huge numbers were very well-educated in the Classics.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15836910211382887430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-46491582629179313962016-04-20T10:09:19.106-07:002016-04-20T10:09:19.106-07:00Bret, No. 2 above hits the mark. The fiction and ...Bret, No. 2 above hits the mark. The fiction and non-fiction classics should be required reading for many courses, not only Western Civ. and in the old days, even MIT had required non-technical courses so you nerds wouldn't feel awkward in the larger world of non-nerds. A friend taught Spanish at MIT as a visiting prof. and his stories are hilarious. :-) Another friend was a visiting prof. in the AI program and even she, a card-carrying nerd herself, thought you guys were a bit over-the-top.erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826044412670324694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-72621046007758295352016-04-20T09:36:58.831-07:002016-04-20T09:36:58.831-07:00"Socrates would have laughed, because these c..."<i>Socrates would have laughed, because these children are 100% immersed in Enlightenment Western Civ, and don't even want to know what it is or where it came from.</i>"<br /><br />Maybe Socrates would've laughed and while some of those voting against studying western civilization did it because they are "[i]gnorant kids, standing on the shoulders of giants while denying it," maybe it's not so irrational and ignorance seeking as the articles make it out to be.<br /><br />It seems to me that this is a little bit the case of the pot calling the kettle black. I don't recall us having to study "Homer, Plato, the Old Testament, Paul, Beowulf, Augustine, Aquinas, Lorenzo de Medici, Michelangelo, Rousseau, Shakespeare, Newton, Adam Smith, Martin Luther, [or] Locke" when we were at MIT. Perhaps you did as an elective, but other than Newtonian Mechanics/Physics, I'm pretty sure I didn't encounter a single one of those names in a course at MIT.<br /><br />Several things strike me when I think about this:<br /><br />1. I don't think I would've voted for adding the Western Civ stuff as a requirement at MIT. It's not necessarily the best use of the resources of MIT and perhaps it's not a great use of resources at Stanford either.<br /><br />2. If it's really so important that it be taught somewhere, it should be taught in public high schools so that everybody is exposed to it. Interestingly, in public high school, I was exposed to Homer, Plato, (possibly Medici), Michelangelo, (possibly Rousseau), Shakespeare, Newton, Luther, and Locke." Not in depth, but not a terrible introduction.<br /><br />3. School isn't the only place to learn such things. I have more familiarity with all of those topics now and perhaps they are better studied over a lifetime as interest catches and time permits. All of these topics are widely available over the Internet for those interested.<br /><br />4. For those truly dedicated to remaining ignorant, even if you try to stuff Western Civ down their throats, they'll just dismiss it as propaganda.<br /><br />I'm as anti-PC as the next guy (probably more so than average, actually), but this feels like a bit of a smear of Stanford students.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.com