War, wrote Clausewitz, is the continuation of politics by other
means; so, to its cost, is higher education, argues Bromwich
(English/Yale) in this indictment - by turns lively and learned -
of the herd mentality of contemporary American culture. Bromwich's
distinction between the traditional notion of "culture as a tacit
knowledge acquired by choice and affinity" and the debased modern
sense of "culture as social identity" sets him squarely against
contemporary agglomerations of culture and community, which are
held together only by the need to identify oneself with all the
best current ideas and ideologies. The fissure between left-leaning
academics and right-thinking politicians conceals their mutual
idolatry of authority over tradition, which would allow the
formation of individual thought and identity in dialectical
response to a community of writers, thinkers, and actors. In
successive chapters, Bromwich traces the abdication of tradition
and the individuality it fosters in the face of a superstitious
veneration of authority in legal cases involving political
correctness, the neoconservatism of George Will and Allan Bloom,
and the radical conformism of the ivory tower. His discussions
range from trenchantly freewheeling commentary to exhaustingly
close readings of both friends (Burke and Hume, surprisingly, are
claimed as forebears of liberal secularism) and foes (Will is
vivisected with the kind of care usually reserved for cartoon
characters; though he's left for dead, you know he'll be back whole
and unmarked in the next episode). But only in the last chapter - a
well-informed critique of the politics of literature departments
that value new theoretical work in proportion to their failure to
comprehend it - does Bromwich find a mordantly persuasive tone
worthy of his high argument. More impressive, then, for its range
than its achievement; like Irving Howe, Bromwich seems more
successful in breathtaking individual polemics than in sustained
argument. (Kirkus Reviews)
Liberal education has been under siege in recent years. Far-right
ideologues in journalism and government have pressed for a uniform
curriculum that focuses on the achievements of Western culture.
Partisans of the academic left, who hold our culture responsible
for the evils of society, have attempted to redress imbalances by
fostering multiculturalism in education. In this eloquent and
passionate book a distinguished scholar criticizes these positions
and calls for a return to the tradition of independent thinking
that he contends has been betrayed by both right and left. Under
the guise of educational reform, says David Bromwich, these groups
are in fact engaging in politics by other means. Bromwich argues
that rivals in the debate over education have one thing in common:
they believe in the all-importance of culture. Each assumes that
culture confers identity, decides the terms of every moral choice,
and gives a meaning to life. Both sides therefore see education as
a means to indoctrinate students in specific cultural and political
dogmas. By contrast, Bromwich contends that genuine education is
concerned less with culture than with critical thinking and
independence of mind. This view of education is not a middle way
among the political demands of the moment, says Bromwich. Its
earlier advocates include Mill and Wollstonecraft, and its roots
can be traced to such secular moralists as Burke and Hume. Bromwich
attacks the anti-democratic and intolerant premises of both right
and left-premises that often appear in the conservative guise of
"preserving the tradition" on the one hand, or the radical guise of
"opening up the tradition" on the other. He discusses the new
academic "fundamentalists" and the politically correct speech codes
they have devised to enforce a doctrine of intellectual conformity;
educational policy as articulated by conservative apologists George
Will and William Bennett; the narrow logic of institutional
radicalism; the association between personal reflection and social
morality; and the discipline of literary study, where the symptoms
of cultural conflict have appeared most visibly. Written with the
wisdom and conviction of a dedicated teacher, this book is a
persuasive plea to recover a true liberal tradition in academia and
government-through independent thinking, self-knowledge, and
tolerance of other points of view.
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