Our current culture war is a direct descendent of the 1960’s “generation gap.” But the beginning of the modern American culture war, properly speaking, dates to the attack by William Bennett, then head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, on Harvard University’s “hollow core.” Bennett argued, “that in many of our colleges, the curricula have become diffuse and directionless; that many of our colleges have lost sight of their fundamental role in conveying our common culture; and that young Americans have become increasingly removed from the very taproots of their society.” Bennett’s elevation to Secretary of Education, and the sensation created in 1987 by Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind, set the culture war into full swing.

Now Allan Bloom’s friend and colleague, Harvey Mansfield, has produced a wonderful reflection on what a real core curriculum at Harvard ought to look like. Mansfield’s thoughts appear as, “A More Demanding Curriculum” in the latest issue of the Claremont Review of Books. This importance of this piece goes way beyond the specifics of Harvard’s curriculum, just as Bill Bennett’s original criticism of Harvard’s “hollow core” had national significance. The battle over Harvard’s core stands behind the dust up over Lawrence Summers remarks on women and math. For many Harvard faculty members, Summers’s remarks merely provided a convenient point of attack. It’s tough for them to speak openly about their real objections to the new regime. Summers aims to strengthen and solidify Harvard’s famously hollow core, and for that the faculty cannot forgive him.

This piece by Mansfield is a gem. I was struck by the story of his freshman course with president Conant, architect of the original Harvard core. Catch the comparison between courses and condoms. Mansfield’s recitation of what ought to be in a proper core adds up to a withering critique of the contemporary academy, however gently it’s presented. But best of all is having so accessible an example of the way the great Harvey Mansfield thinks.