Letter: In his push to renovate and expand, has Levin forgotten something?
I expect more from Yale. It is not a job bazaar or a training ground for Microsoft.
Yet.
Answer:There will be no more Harold Blooms, just Bill Gateses.
Even Harold Bloom knows there will be no more Harold Blooms; and it's not Yale's fault.
Further, I would suggest that your letter is a bit disingenuous: the most destructive areas of study--to Yale's claim on "serious" study--have been on those areas you did not mention (and, indeed, to which you belong, e.g., DIV).
The humanities of language, literature, classics, philosophy and, most of all, divinity, have long since left the building. Further, those areas that have taken up the mantle are economics ("Freakonomics," anyone?), nanotechnology, biotechnology and, for the great questions, cosmology (to include the other end of the spectrum, e.g., particle physics).
At Yale, DIV (a misnomer if ever I saw one), sociology, REM, and anything derivative of Foucault and Marx have gotten, this round, exactly what they deserve: nothing.
Huzzah for the sciences! Huzzah for Levin! Huzzah for Yale!
M. HOCKEY | Packed crowd sees Yale shut out Brown
Muenzer: A Diamond
Panel focuses on class
Unfortunately, the emphasis in college expansion today is on practicality, not the liberal arts. In other words, the main objective of college courses today is to prepare students for a career in a specific field. The feeling of most college administrators is that liberal arts courses -- such as English, history, philosophy, foreign languages etc. -- might make a more well-rounded individual, but such courses are mostly intangible in the workforce. On the other hand, courses in computer science, business, engineering, the physical sciences, etc. provide preparation for a specific career -- and one where there is a greater demand for college graduates. Sad but true!