Recently on your op-ed page, Ronald L. Emmons chastised Alan Bloom for his elitist views on American higher education in ”The Closing of the American Mind.” Emmons proposed instead career-oriented studies, such as computer skills.
It seems that both Emmons` and Blooms` theses are incomplete. They both reduce higher education to an either-or matter-”great books” or ”technology training.” In truth both are needed for a useful modern education: the
”great books” to supply the moral, philosophical, historical and value underpinnings to the student, ”technology training” to supply the functional skills needed in the late 20th Century. Mankind`s accumulated wisdom in
”great books” is the foundation on which the superstructure of science and technology must be built.
