by Patrick Randall | Politically correct curriculum experiments hurt Tufts.
Tufts does not have the money to indulge every indignant voice of reform on this campus. Limited by a meager endowment, the University has not even been able to make the shift to need-blind admissions. Yet in the past week, a small contingent of students, compensating for their pitiful numbers by using bullhorns, demanded the creation of an Asian American Studies program. The presence of a few homosexuals eager to gain impetus for “Queer Studies” and the occasional chant for a Native American Studies program rounded out the effort. The central concept behind this unrest is that Tufts’ Western-dominated curriculum must achieve “balance” with its minority elements. This should be opposed for two reasons: first, a curriculum with emphasis on the West is better; second, Tufts already prioritizes its most valuable programs in a way that maximizes the success of the university and its students.
When Asian American students at Tufts complain that our history books give too little attention to the Asian labor force that built much of the American railroad, they are unavoidably asking for recognition not just as Americans but as Americans of Asian descent. They claim that institutionalized racism ignores their contributions, essentially because they aren’t white. They have little reason to complain. Virtually every European immigrant group since the pilgrims has faced just as much discrimination and done just as much or more to build the fiber of America. The difference is, people like the Irish and Italians eagerly subjected their previous identities to the goal of becoming 100% American. They didn’t ask to be acknowledged as Americans who were Irish, or Jewish, or Italian. Neither should Asian Americans, and most don’t. They have reason to be content simply as Americans, especially when in modern times they enjoy a high median income and an educational edge over average Americans. This is probably why so few protesters could be mustered from the large Asian American population at Tufts.
In an environment where learning is valued for its own sake, no subject is academically out of bounds. But some subjects are far more important than others. Native American Studies is probably around 200th on the list of relevant programs of study that a university should cultivate. The simple fact is that Native American societies were obliterated on too large a scale for them to leave us significant contributions. Their beliefs and systems were incompatible with those of the Europeans who replaced them, and regardless of how morally atrocious this may be, it is history. Native Americans have had a negligible impact on our institutions and academic heritage, and this has nothing to do with how valuable their culture is. If a program were designed to reflect the ways in which Native Americans most greatly influenced our country, it would probably include a basket-weaving course and an ex-college class on cave art. This may be tragic, but people trying to argue the value of studying Native American culture should not do so on the grounds that it is significant.
Western institutions, a Western intellectual and religious legacy, and Western people are largely responsible for what America is today. This makes a Western-based curriculum the most significant to understanding the United States (and much of the world), and it best equips students to work here. In the 1960s, when many schools left behind a strong core curriculum in favor of offering more choices, Tufts (even poorer then) emphasized the basics, recognizing that they are indispensable to a liberal arts education. With its limited funds, catering to fringe interests would mean horizontal cuts. Tufts cannot afford to skim a little off the top of its more successful and important programs—International Relations, for example. Private universities do not have an obligation to satisfy every student who chooses to enter them, and Tufts has wisely chosen to cultivate its image as, among other things, an International Relations school. IR has helped make Tufts what it is today, and the University should be careful about hurting that department. The engineering, veterinary, and dental schools are also indispensable to Tufts, and if an Asian American Studies program ever does show up, it will be because of the benefits reaped by those schools. Then Tufts can think about searching for the elusive Native American Shakespeare.
Again, ideally, no subject is out of bounds at a liberal arts university. But Tufts is not Harvard, and so it must prioritize. The Tufts Symphony Orchestra should have enough music stands, and students should be able to dry their hands after washing them. Students wouldn’t have these things if the University kept undermining its advancement by diverting funds from its greatest assets. Instead of hiring Asian American professors, Tufts should hire financial experts to maximize its endowment. Taking more courses in less important fields may then be an affordable luxury. But in the end, that’s precisely what it is: a luxury.
Mr. Randall is a freshman majoring in Political Science and Latin.
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