Studying Classics vs. Studying Racism

Pity the wide-eyed freshman who signs up for Classics 101, looking forward to discovering the wonders of ancient Greece and Rome, only to be subjected to a semester-long harangue on the evils of racism. If this is what a Princeton education is becoming — the reduction of complex worlds to a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down dictated by the latest single-lens ideological fashion — then what’s the point? You can get as much by spending an afternoon with one of the countless “anti-racist” books now flooding the market, and for a much better price.

As a lifelong progressive, I am sickened by this betrayal of the ideals of both higher education and social justice.