Posted on 07/03/2026 5:14:25 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
These elite schools once trained the statesmen of the American republic. Now they produce its most ardent critics.
When William Pallan arrived at the University of Pennsylvania his freshman year, he was set on studying the humanities. He wanted to engage with the great thinkers of the Western canon, from Plato and Aristotle to Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill. But as he searched through Penn’s online course catalog and sat in on classes, he felt that the options on offer focused less on the great texts themselves and more on postmodernist interpretations of them. He recalls leaving the first lecture in an English course on Shakespeare midway through when the professor said they’d be approaching the bard’s work through a queer lens.
“I chose to go to Penn, not Hillsdale, so I don’t expect to find a conservative professor in every classroom,” said Mr. Pallan, who will be a junior in the fall. “But it’s not just not a matter of their political affiliation. A lot of them are blatantly hostile to the Western and American tradition.” He decided to study math and economics. “At least I feel like I’m actually learning stuff that’s true.”
It’s no secret that the Western tradition is in short supply on most campuses. All but one Ivy League school stripped their required curriculums of courses dedicated to the great books decades ago. Academic priorities have shifted away from American history and Western civilization in favor of “global history,” critical theory and identity-based frameworks. The result is a generation of college students whose understanding of American history is limited to the nation’s shortcomings.
“I’ve noticed an anti-American undertone among many of my peers and professors,” said Manu Anpalagan, who graduated from Yale last month with a major in political science and economics. He points...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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Are there any American professors teaching in Ivy League schools?
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