What Should We Be Teaching?

The debate over what to teach—”the canon”, “Great Books,” core curriculum, Western civilization versus world civilization, the sins of Stanford, and so on—is one the least edifying debates of recent times. The problem is that it’s not a debate at all. Instead, everybody is feverishly waving book lists. What makes it even less edifying is that everyone brandishes book lists for different courses. Unfortunately, Irving Howe’s and David Bromwich’s co...