Word: glazer
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Professors of Education and Social Structure Nathan Glazer agrees that inferior faculties are not the problem facing higher education "Teaching is taken pretty seriously these days," he says. "It has less to do with the faculties than it does with a collision between traditions and students strong drive to move into lucrative and rewarding financial occupations...
...unlike Ozment, Glazer says he does not want to pin blame on anyone. He sees the changes in education as a natural result of more high school students going on to college than ever before from 6 percent in 1950 to about 25 percent today (excluding community colleges). While he says colleges should have a strong commitment to the humanities, he predicts, "We're going to have a real problem using the traditional method on everybody...
...Glazer disagrees strongly with the Bennett report, contending that colleges "have to be sensible in how much they make [humanities] an additive for people who come for different reasons." He says he does not regret the renewed emphasis on the humanities, but does see society as being too complex to impose one model on every college student. If enrollment in the humanities is going to increase, it should come about through more effective "advertising," not through imposed requirements, Glazer argues...
...that the ideal of a common culture cannot be used as a justification for a homogenous curriculum if the majority of Americans do not attend college. "If we feel a common culture is that important, how come we're letting three-fifths of our people get away without it?" Glazer asks, "I think you can be a good citizen without reading Plato...
Riesman, a contributor to the Bennett report, differs sharply. While Glazer thinks that Harvard's Core Curriculum is the best way to clean up higher education, Riesman advocates Columbia University's Core Curriculum as the ideal to which all colleges should aspire. In Columbia's program, all students are required to take several common courses on Western civilization. Riesman argues that if every student must take at least a few of the same courses, the true meaning of colleges will be restored...