These critics also say that they worry about the increasing emphasis in college curricula, especially in the humanities and social sciences, on courses that promote "moral relativism" which they say merely serve to undermine values and students' perceptions of right and wrong.

"Various disciplines have been taken over by a belief that there's no rational way to solve problems," Mansfield said. "It's a dogmatic moral relativism that we're against."

Unsurprisingly, the confrontational tactics of conservatives such as Bennett have alienated some college presidents and leaders in higher education, who say that Bennett is trying to usurp the universities' traditional role in shaping their own curricula.

"I wish Mr. Bennett well in his efforts to compete with colleges and universities," said Vice President for Governmental and Community Affairs John Shattuck. "He's certainly been trying to do that as Education Secretary."

"His view of curriculum is quite a bit narrower than educators feel is essential," Shattuck said. "Bennett's view is that the classics and a few well-trodden works are essential [to a college curriculum], and while they're essential, they're not enough."

Critics of the Bennett agenda for curriculum reform say that his program represents a return to the ethnocentricity and the narrow-mindedness that prevailed in most college core courses in the humanities half a century ago. Further, they charge, it is as politically motivated as the push for a non-Western curriculum at Stanford which the Secretary condemned.

"It's sad to see that he excludes [from his great books curriculum] the cultural diversity that is the hallmark of modern life," Shattuck said.

But Bennett's allies deny such charges of parochialism. "You can't make those kinds of criticisms if you've read Allen Bloom's book, if you've read Secretary Bennett's speeches," Walters said. "The issue is not ethnocentrism, the issue is what are the best works" for a liberal college education.