Even in red states, leftists have exerted their malign influence over higher education. The once-formidable University of Texas has long suffered under the control of progressives who loathe America and want students to adopt their beliefs.
Fortunately, in Texas, a counterattack is in motion, and in today’s Martin Center article, Thomas K. Lindsay writes about a beneficial move at UT-Austin.
He begins:
For decades, the American university has been drifting away from its most important purpose: giving students a common education in the knowledge and principles they need to become educated citizens. The core curriculum was supposed to provide that common ground. Instead, it became a collection of distribution requirements — a little History here, a little PoliSci there, a Science course somewhere else — with students free to assemble a curriculum that can have little coherence.
That’s why UT-Austin’s decision to rethink its Core Curriculum deserves attention. UT is trying to bring back something that has been largely missing from higher education for a long time: a sense that some things really are worth knowing.
Yes, and if the university can get faculty who don’t want to tear down America and the West, students will benefit from learning those things.
Consider American history. Lindsay continues:
American history will also be treated as a story rather than a collection of isolated episodes. Students may take a broad survey of the American experience or a thematic course that covers a major subject across substantial stretches of the nation’s history. Either approach is preferable to the narrow specialization that can leave students knowing quite a lot about one small corner of American history while missing the larger story.
Read the whole thing.