Why We Need Western Civ

In January 1987, the battle cry of Jesse Jackson and student protesters at Stanford seemed outlandish to the point of absurdity: “Hey hey, ho ho, Western Culture’s got to go.”

But, lo and behold, the Jackson impulse ended up sweeping all before it.

At most colleges and universities, as documented by Stanley Kurtz in his excellent monograph, The Lost History of Western Civilization, Western Civ requirements are long gone, and the course may not even be offered anymore. (A free PDF of the monograph is here, by the way.)

Even art-history courses have come under fire for smuggling into the classroom, via the Parthenon frieze and Michelangelo, a traditional version of the hated Western canon.