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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he wants every college in his state to teach courses in "Western civilization."
And I say: Bring it on.
"We want to make sure that everybody that goes through a Florida university has to take certain core course requirements, that's really focused on giving them the foundation so that they can think for themselves," DeSantis declared earlier this year. "And the core curriculum must be grounded in actual history, the actual philosophy that has shaped Western civilization."
But any course that did that would teach students to question everything, including DeSantis. And I rather doubt that the governor and his GOP disciples want that.
Nor do Democrats, who quickly denounced DeSantis' proposal as an effort to indoctrinate American — or, even, white — superiority. Taught properly, however, a course on Western civilization would undermine some of the Democrats' own favorite ideas, especially about race and identity.
Anyone who thinks otherwise should read "Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation" by Roosevelt Montas. Montas is the former director of the core curriculum at Columbia University, which is centered heavily upon, yes, Western civilization. And he rebuts both conservative and liberal assumptions about it.