<p>In Bloomberg.com
April 4, 2013</p>
<p>[What</a> Parents Don?t Know About Bowdoin - Bloomberg](<a href=“http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-03/when-is-a-liberal-arts-college-too-liberal-.html]What”>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-03/when-is-a-liberal-arts-college-too-liberal-.html)</p>
<p>What Parents Don’t Know About Bowdoin</p>
<p>By Amity Shlaes</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s because our understanding of how our social world is constructed keeps evolving, and scholars from many disciplines noticed that there are other valid points of view beyond privileged, white gentlemen.</p>
<p>And perhaps 2008 and the shenanigans of the banking industry and the near scientific unanimity about global climate change have forced us to look at serial tend capitalism with a new eye.</p>
<p>As for who comes to campus, why not have the goal of educating as many segmants of society as possible. We all live together on spaceship Earth. Yes, corny expression. I just felt like it.</p>
<p>Google the “National Association of Scholars” and then make your own judgements about how valid and unbiased the research is.</p>
<p>Google “acdeme blog” to read John Wilson’s interesting review from the AAUP- those liberal left wing professors. </p>
<p>I did read most of the report- some of the history is interesting, but the bias is so overt and corrupting that whatever is good in the report is lost. NAS endorses a view of college education that appears to be based on a 1950s world view and this document is really just a polemic promoting those outdated and incomplete ideas.</p>
<p>Another article on this topic appearing today in the WSJ:</p>
<p>[David</a> Feith: The Golf Shot Heard Round the Academic World - WSJ.com](<a href=“David Feith: The Golf Shot Heard Round the Academic World - WSJ”>David Feith: The Golf Shot Heard Round the Academic World - WSJ)</p>
<p>I find the whole bruised ego part of this a bit disturbing and for me it calls into question the legitimacy of the whole report. It’s too bad because I think there is room for a serious analysis of some of the issues raised. But it’s hard to take it seriously when the circumstances that led to this particular report seem to suggest there was a pre-disposition to conclusions aligned with responding to a perceived personal insult and trying to slamming one of America’s great liberal arts colleges. And shame on Mills by the way for his role in this whole shenanigan as well. He could have handled this much better by admitting at some point and at some level that Bowdoin and all institutions like it have room to grow and improve and that open and spirited dialogue about conservative values is part of a conversation that should be at the heart of the academic experience. The WSJ article makes this point quite well.</p>
<p>My kids have already done a ton of survey level work in high school (AP US History, AP English, etc). They’re ready to push the envelope. They don’t really need intro to the founding fathers or whatever it is this guy is talking about. If you still need to learn that stuff, isn’t Bowdoin the wrong place for you? I would think that Bowdoin students are ready to explore some challenging ideas in the classroom–and that they will have to draw upon some pretty solid preparation in the more traditional subject matter, which I hope they already have.</p>
<p>I’m taken aback that anyone could have spent so much time and money on bashing a single college. Is this really the most important thing they could think of to do with those resources? Does Bowdoin’s existence bother them THAT much? That’s just weird.</p>
<p>What I would hope for is that a school teaches our young adults to think for themselves and explore the topics. Thank goodness that Bowdoin and the other top schools have progressed in their thinking and their offerings. Maybe this gentleman should be auditing some of these classes rather than staying mired in the past. Fresh air is good at any age.</p>
<p>" . . . and scholars from many disciplines noticed that there are other valid points of view beyond privileged, white gentlemen."</p>
<p>There are many, many different points of view among privileged white gentlemen.</p>
<p>Fair enough, but why should they get the mike all the time?</p>
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<p>What are “conservative values”? The idea that the earth is 6000 year old? That the theory of evolution is nonsense? That there is no global warming? That the benefits of marriage should not be extended to gay people? That taxes should be kept low on high income individuals?</p>
<p>In which classes would you talk about “conservative values”? And what exactly would be said, except to dismiss them?</p>
<p>I pretty much mean a dismissive attitude like yours. One that would demean and mock a point of view not aligned with your own.</p>
<p>Well. ReallyOK, what are those “conservative values” that need to be q part of the conversation at a place like Bowdoin?? I would argue that the NAS report does not even begin to understand what a truly conservative education would be, which would be about things like Greek, Latin, pure math, great literature, philosophy, oratory, art history, etc. The authors of the NAS study seem to be mostly interested in injecting right-wing propaganda into the curriculum (why else the fixation on things like US military history??) than providing the elements of a truly classical and traditional education. Bowdoin actually has politically conservative professors in its government department, who teach many of the courses the report falsely claims to be absent from the Bowdoin curriculum.</p>
<p>“There are many, many different points of view among privileged white gentlemen.” Hear, hear, glido. Stereotype much, mythmom?</p>
<p>SoCal Dad2 (nice name, btw) - Not to burst your bubble, but there are many who espouse some views properly described as conservative who do not believe the earth is 6,000 years old and who do subscribe to the theory of evolution. Does that surprise you? Or is it easier to dismiss those who disagree with you on SOME subjects by falsely ascribing to them some outlandish beliefs on others? ReallyOK is right in his/her suggestion that you do not wish to engage in, or even allow, serious discussion of controversial topics. Apparently you disagree with President Mills, who is quoted in the WSJ article as having said, “we must be willing to entertain diverse perspectives throughout our community. . . . Diversity of ideas at all levels of the college is crucial for our credibility and for our educational mission.” </p>
<p>On a lighter note, the WSJ article describes this course offering: “Queer Gardens” (which “examines the work of gay and lesbian gardeners and traces how marginal identities find expression in specific garden spaces”). I don’t care what your political views are - does anyone seriously think this is anything other than ridiculous? I mean, it might make an interesting monograph but a college course? Puh-lease! Sounds like something you’d more likely read in The Onion than the Bowdoin course catalog.</p>
<p>Thanks to @doonerak for referencing a great article. Really a cogent, funny, and persuasive analysis…</p>
<p>[A</a> Failed Attack on Bowdoin by the NAS | Academe Blog](<a href=“http://academeblog.org/2013/04/04/a-failed-attack-on-bowdoin-by-the-nas/]A”>A Failed Attack on Bowdoin by the NAS | ACADEME BLOG)</p>
<p>CalifDad – “Queer Gardens” was never actually offered because students did not sign up for it.</p>
<p>Here’s an excellent rebuttal of the NAS study by Alex Williams, a recent Bowdoin grad, who explains how the NAS study disregarded the fact that [many</a> of the courses about American history that the report says are missing from the Bowdoin curriculum are actually offered by Bowdoin](<a href=“http://alexhwilliams.info/oped/the_nas_study/critique.pdf]many”>http://alexhwilliams.info/oped/the_nas_study/critique.pdf).</p>
<p>We can all rest easy now that Rush Limbaugh has weighed in on this controversy:</p>
<p>[What</a> Students Don’t Learn at Bowdoin College - The Rush Limbaugh Show](<a href=“http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/04/08/what_students_don_t_learn_at_bowdoin_college]What”>What Students Don't Learn at Bowdoin College - The Rush Limbaugh Show)</p>
<p>Perhaps I should withdraw my son’s enrollment deposit? Not!</p>
<p>Go U Bears!</p>
<p>The identity-based approach to social analysis is no more defensible than the argument that Genesis is literally true. Maybe more people need to do critical analysis of the critical analysis. </p>
<p>There are innumerable ways people can group themselves and innumerable different possible identities. Individuals tend to choose to claim membership in popular identity groups that are fashionable and/or that benefit them in some way, i.e., they are generally following their own narrow, selfish, short-term interests in choosing what identity to embrace. </p>
<p>A wealthy, beautiful, white woman who benefited from having male ancestors who were privileged often tries to create even more advantages for herself by identifying as a woman rather than as a white, wealthy, or beautiful person, so she can demand compensation for the past history of discrimination against women (which is somewhat nonsensical, as the effects of gender discrimination do not pass down through generations like the effects of racial discrimination – a man suffers if his mother suffered and a woman benefits if her father benefited).</p>
<p>The conservatives in this argument have taken the broad, long-term, responsible approach (something that is not necessarily associated with conservatism) in arguing that there should be more focus on what binds us together than on what divides us. The liberals have taken the narrow, short-term self-interested view (something that is not necessarily associated with liberalism) in arguing that we should focus on the differences, even if that makes it more difficult to agree on common values and common goals and to live in harmony.</p>
<p>Ironically, I suspect that most predatory elites prefer to side with the liberals in this argument, even if the liberals generally demonize predatory elites, because it makes the opposition fractured, weak, distracted, and confused and unlikely to threaten the plans, privileges, or positions of such predatory elites.</p>
<p>[Barry</a> Mills: Setting the Record Straight « Bowdoin Daily Sun](<a href=“http://www.bowdoindailysun.com/2013/04/barry-mills-setting-the-record-straight/]Barry”>http://www.bowdoindailysun.com/2013/04/barry-mills-setting-the-record-straight/)</p>