Word: botstein
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Leon Botstein, 32, is one of the nation's most forceful advocates of an often neglected cause: the small liberal arts college. Although he attended the University of Chicago and Harvard, Botstein believes that in an increasingly complex world the traditional college can provide a vital educational function quite different from that of large, research-oriented universities. He has buttressed his argument with an impressive performance. In 1970, at the age of 23, he became one of the youngest college presidents in American history when he took over and briefly revived New Hampshire's failing and nonaccredited Franconia College...
Panelists Edwin O. Reischauer, professor of History, Leon Botstein, President of Bard College and Steven Fischer, chief counselor at Bernard Haldane Associates, a career-counseling organization, presented their views on liberal arts education, its private and public consequences, and even debated its existence...
Last night Botstein questioned the existence of a true liberal arts curriculum in America today. Using Harvard as an example, Botstein said that people should not confuse a general distribution program, which he described as "an agglomeration of courses," with a truly coherent liberal arts curriculum that "guides students in areas that will help them to deal with present and future society...
However, when asked how he would go about devising such a core curriculum, Botstein gave no specific groundworks for a plan...
...perfect users of words." The line was more hopeful than prophetic. Today, many believe that the American language has lost not only its melody but a lot of its meaning. Schoolchildren and even college students often seem disastrously ignorant of words; they stare, uncomprehending, at simple declarative English. Leon Botstein, president of New York's Bard College, says with glum hyperbole: "The English language is dying, because it is not taught. " Others believe that the language is taught badly and learned badly because American culture is awash with clichés, officialese, political bilge, the surreal boobspeak of advertising...