Are You Politically Correct? (Contemporary Issues) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879757698 ISBN 13: 9780879757694

Publisher: Prometheus, 1992

Synopsis

Policies governing what is taught in America's colleges and universities, who is admitted, and how faculty are hired (for years viewed as standards of excellence) are now being replaced by standards aimed at "multicultural diversity." Traditional standards are criticized as inherently racist, sexist, and oppressive, while the new perspective is said to be "politically correct." Today, important questions are being raised:- Should the study of Western culture be replaced by "multiculturalism"?- Is affirmative action inherently racist?- Should accrediting bodies require a commitment to diversity?- What is political correctness?- Should the traditional canon of the great works of Western literature be replaced, amended, or remain the same?- Do minority study programs really benefit the people they are supposed to help?- Are "speech codes" on college campuses inconsistent with the First Amendment?Are You Politically Correct? brings together selections that span the political gamut from the far left to the far right, demonstrating the clash of views on the many issues surrounding the political correctness debate.

About this title

About the Author

Francis J. Beckwith is Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies at Baylor University, where he also serves as associate director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy as well as co-director (with Trent Dougherty) of the Program on Philosophical Studies of Religion in the Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion. Visit his home page at http://sites.baylor.edu/francisbeckwith/.

Michael E. Bauman is Director of Christian Studies and Professor of Theology and Culture at Hillsdale College.

Reviews

This is another reader in the publisher's "Contemporary Issues" series, which has previously dealt with such topics as euthanasia, gun-control, and abortion. Here, the battleground is education, especially humanities education, with its vocabulary of monoculturalism vs. multiculturalism, cultural pluralism vs. particularism, Afrocentrism vs. Eurocentrism, or the culture of DWEMs (Dead White European Males). The extreme opposing ends of the argument in this compilation of 16 articles, most of them previously published, are represented by Thomas Short and Molefi Kete Asante, while other contributors contemplate the First Amendment (Stanley Fish), academic freedom (Chester E. Finn Jr.), or public education (Diane Ravitch). For comprehensive education collections.
- Arla Lindgren, St. John's Univ., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0879757698
• ISBN 13: 9780879757694
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266
• Editor: Beckwith Baylor University Francis J., Bauman Michael E.