Lynne Cheney, with whose statements the posted article opens and closes, is quoted in the body of the article as saying that the current university interest in offering courses on Islam reflects an attitude that the US is at fault for the terrorist attacks of this fall. This leap off logic's precipice is unjustified.

Our ignorance of world history and of world cultures is the stuff of legend. It astounds me that a nation can have risen to world leadership and know so little about the world it leads. One could think that we live in a Western version of the Middle Kingdom, in which all that's worth knowing is within our borders.

Is it possible that more courses on Islam are being offered because there is a perception that we are manifestly ignorant on the subject? Could it be that the universities are responding to a demand by increasing the supply?

Re: the absence of an American history requirement, or a Western civ requirement, in university curricula, why doesn't Cheney mention the lack of math and science requirements as well?

The trouble is, ever since the late 1970s, universities have been viewed in America not as institutions through which students expand their horizons and acquire what has been called "a liberal education" (i.e., one in the liberal arts), as a kind of preparation of the canvas of the personality for the student to use to paint his or her life. Rather, universities are now viewed as white-collar trade schools, in which freshmen are encouraged to declare a major as they apply, instead of taking two years of core courses that provide a common culture before making the decision to specialize. You don't need depth to hold a degree in business or public administration. Sometimes depth can even get in the way.

So Cheney thinks that offering to teach about Islam is an indictment of America. That attitude might explain why we have so few people in the State Department who speak Arabic. Heaven help us if we seek to educate ourselves! We might have to admit there is something we don't know.

Regards--
Mary Anne