Editorial
Reagan creates
economic elite
President Reagan is returning to an old cam
paign theme with his proposal of an “Eoonoinh
Bill of Rights": getting the government off tin
hacks of the people. Unfortunately, his "Hill oi
Rights" will deprive the people of their right to
govern mental represents!ion.
In a speec h last Friday Reagan outlined his
economic proposals tiiat will become his main
emphasis for the rest of his term His so-called
"Economic: Hill of Rights" includes proposing a
constitutional amendment that would require a
balanced federal budged, allowing the private sec
tor to participate in the federal economy, pro
moting a freer marked and world trade, and reduc
ing government regulations.
in essence, these proposals sock to usurp the
powers of Congress and circumvent its ability to
represent the people. Reagan is creating a more
elite form of leadership by reallocating the powers
of Congress to the executive branch.
The constitutional amendment for a balanced
federal budget comes after Congress proposed a
$t trillion budget that did not meet Reagans ex
pectations. It increases spending on domestic pro
grams and decreases spending on defense.
I ho amendment would require .1 unspecified
“super" majority of Congress to approve tax in
creases. It also would require a statement detail
ing where the revenues for new programs would
come from for the next five years.
However, this proposal is a contradiction for
Keagtui. lie has promised a balanced budget since
his 1980 campaign, hut he has yet to reduce spen
ding. Simply passing an amendment requiring a
balanced budget will not reduce spending. Kven
with the requirement to assess revenues as they
are allocated will not solve the problem Stronger
actions must he taken.
Reagan is adamantly against raising taxes.
Hut this is one of the simplist ways to reduce the
deficit Kven the* people, represented hv the
members of Congress, am in favor of the in
creases.
If Reagan does raise taxes he will la? pro
viding for better domestic programs. This is
something the private sector or large business
would never tackle. His proposals seek to allow
the private sector to take over some of the govern
ment's responsibilities. Hut welfare; and educa
tion are not appealing aspects of the government
and may get left by the way side.
These aspects of his “Hill of Rights" will
create an elite government that will emphasize
big business anti leave the voice and wishes of the
people behind.
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Commentary
Emphasis on business closes minds
People on campus an* talking
about Allan Bloom's new book,“The
('losing of the American Mind"
and for good reason. Allan Bloom, a
political philosophy professor at the
1'Diversity of Chicago, elucidates a
f u n d a m e n t a I problem with
America's system of higher educa
tion: Universities no longer em
phasize a lila-ral arts education and
students no longer seek one. Instead,
higher education focuses primarily
on teaching career skills for use in
some particular area of specializa
tion. According to Bloom, this em
phasis on specialization results in an
intellectually underdeveloped
graduating class
Commentary by
Steve Hoenisch
Many of today's graduating
students are illiterate in the
humanities, including literature,
philosophy and the arts Bather than
pursue a liberal arts education,
career-oriented students are trained
in business administration, com
puter science, or perhaps even
leisure activities. For such students,
the primary purpose of attaining a
college degree is to facilitate a
guaranteed position in the private
sector of the economy. A college
education is no longer the means to
attaining intellectual enlightenment,
but rather the means to acquire well
paying employment.
Here at the University, enrollment
statistics confirm the praocupation
with career-oriented courses of study
over strictly intellectual endeavors.
For example, during spring term
1087 there were -173 architecture ma
jors compared to 2H humanities ma
Letlers Policy
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is turned in.
jure: ,1‘t'i in computer information
science compared to eight in
classics, and 202 finance majors con
trasted to 42 in philosophy. Further
more. there were more pre-business
administration majors than the total
amount of undeclared students in
the fourth week of spring term.
According to Bloom, students are
compelled into specialized majors
and away front the liberal arts by
their initial confrontation with a
multiplicity of courses and subjects
that often are competing and con
tradictory in nature Bloom writes:
"when a student arrives at the
university, he finds a bewildering
variety of departments and a
bewildering variety of courses. And
there is no official guidance. . .about
what he should study.... It is
easiest simply to make a career
choice and go alsiut getting prepared
for that career."
One of the masons that students
are graduating with less of a liberal
education. Bloom points out. is that
many universities dropped re
quirements during the ItMiOa, suc
cumbing to pressure for a
deregulated curriculum. Although
the University dents have "core" re
quirements that help promote a
liberal arts education, many major
departments do not require addi
tional courses in specified subjects,
such as comparative literature or
English.
I he university School ol Jour
nalism. however, is one exception to
this rule. My requiring students to
take 136 credits in disciplines other
than journalism, the journalism
school has become a paradigm for
other departments in compelling
students to study the libral arts
The adversity to the liberal arts is
perpetuated further by the federal
financial aid policies of the Keagan
administration. The decrease in the
availability of federal aid over the
last few years has produced a
disincentive regarding the pursuit of
more intellectual, yet less applicable
courses of study.
My reducing the proportion of the
federal budget allocated to educa
tion. the burden of (raying for college
has been shifted to students and their
parents, bringing forth a re
evaluation of the cost and benefits of
collge in terms of post-education in
come. As a result of this shifted cost
burden, many students find it wor
thwhile to attend college only if it
significantly will augment their
perceived future income level. Un
fortunately, a liberal arts education
does not supply the specialized
training required to guarantee
economic success in the future.
Overcoming the formitable i>ar
riers deterring students from seeking
and accomplishing a liberal educa
tion will be difficult but possible,
calling for changes in university re
quirements and federal education
policy.
One potential way of solving the
problem is a renovation of the cur
riculum requirements ol America's
universities. Although the Universi
ty has made significant steps in this
direction, efforts should t>e made to
step up the number of core re
quirements in all the diverse bran
ches of knowledge, especially the
humanities. Futhermore. individual
departments should increase the
number of specific requirements,
much like the journalism school has
done, to promote a liberal education.
At the prescription of Allan
Bloom, the classic works of
philosophy, literature, and science
should be reintroduced on a
university-wide level. In fact. Bloom
claims that "the only serious solu
tion is the one that is almost univer
sally rejected: the old Great Books
approach, in which a liberal educa
tion means reading certain generally
recognized classic texts. ..”
Perhaps, as Bloom believes.
reading classic texts is the solution,
but other measures may help as well,
particularly changing the federal
financial aid policy. If federal aid in
the form of grants, subsidized loans
and work study could be increased
significantly, rather than cut. then
students would he more inclined to
pursue a IiImt.iI arts education with
less fear of future economic
backlash While proposing to
decrease federal financial aid by $1.7
billion, the Keagan administration
seeks to increase defense spending
and Strategic Defense Initiative
funds by a combined total of $21.1
billion for 1988. These misconceiv
ed . unprecedented spending in
creases are at the expense of
domestic social programs such as
education, and should not be
tolerated by the public.
In this way, the Keagan ad
ministration is doing its share to
close the American mind—and as a
result it may take more than a few
great books or even a crowbar to pry
it open again.