A better defense of the traditional humanities and their connection to the genius of Western Civilization you will never find than in the Wall Street Journal and this scintillating op-ed by Heather McDonald. McDonald bemoans the destruction of the UCLA English major. Where previously, undergrads would have to take one course studying Chaucer, 2 for Shakespeare, and one on Milton, a "revolt" by junior faculty forced "a mandate that all English majors take a total of three courses in the following four areas: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability and Sexuality Studies; Imperial, Transnational, and Postcolonial Studies; genre studies, interdisciplinary studies, and critical theory; or creative writing." She points out that UCLA English department was one of the last champions of the traditional humanities, now reduced to a vessel for identity politics. But why are the humanities in crisis? Compare the humanists' hunger for learning with the resentment of a Columbia University...(Read Full Post)