From the Weekly Standard (Pics and video added by B.S. Report)
By Jonathan V. Last
Late last night, in a shameful example of editorial cowardice, the Chronicle of Higher Education fired Naomi Schaefer Riley. Naomi is a good friend of mine, a sometimes contributor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD, and a fine writer. And the story of what happened to her is highly instructive.
Naomi joined the Chronicle’s “Brainstorm Blog” a little over a year ago. It was a good hire—she’s written two insightful books on academia, God on the Quad and The Faculty Lounges, along with dozens of articles on the subject. Her postings were smart and entertaining. (For a couple of samples, click over to “If this is art, your middle-school daughter is Picasso” and “No sex for you.”)
Last week she wrote about the world of “Black Studies” in a post titled “The most persuasive case for getting rid of Black Studies? Read the dissertations.” (Read more)
B.S. Report–She was fired for having the audacity to acknowledge what any thinking person knows: Black Studies is largely a waste of education time. I would say the same thing about Chicano studies, Asian Studies, or heck, even White Studies except we all know that that “discipline” would never be offered because it would be seen as the new Department of the KKK.
My point about ethnicity studies is not that these groups don’t have a unique history worthy of study, of course they do, but are they a worthwhile use of the limited resources of college study programs? Secondly, are they doing more harm than good? Do they foment anger and encourage balkanization? I think they do. If a student wishes to take one of these ethnic studies courses, fine. But it should never be a requirement of the entire student body to do so.
Furthermore, just where does one go with an expertise in black studies? Or any other ethnic studies degree? Where’s that job market? Yeah, that’s just what we need–more community agitators working to divide us. Even more people running around claiming they need taxpayer subsidies because the larger society has done them wrong.
