CORRECTION APPENDED
Joining The New York Times's editorial page tomorrow in mid-April will be former Crimson columnist Ross Gregory Douthat '02, who at 29 is set to be the youngest columnist for the Grey Lady "ever"--filling in after Bill Kristol '73's illustrious yearlong tenure. Details on his extensive views on Harvard's curriculum after the jump.
A Harvard graduate may have read no Shakespeare or Proust; he may be unable to distinguish Justinian the Great from Julian the Apostate, or to tell you the first ten elements in the periodic table (God knows I can't). But one need only mention "Mass Culture in Nazi Germany" or "Constructing the Samurai" and his eyes will light up with fond memories.
Oh, the Core. Right after his faux nostalgia for the Core's specialized mainstays, Douthat then pours on the acid:
As in a great library ravaged by a hurricane, the essential elements of a liberal arts education lie scattered everywhere at Harvard, waiting to be picked up. But little guidance is given on how to proceed with that task.
Douthat would be happy about the fact that the Core is getting eliminated, then--right? No, it turns out he hates the new General Education program as much as the Core. When Harvard's Faculty approved Gen Ed in May 2007, Douthat lambasted the new legislation in his blog for The Atlantic:
I try to avoid so much as thinking about Harvard these days, having spent more of my post-college life immersed in the topic than is strictly healthy. But humor me for a moment, since my alma mater has decided to replace its Seventies-era baggy-monster of a Core Curriculum - long an embarrassment to the term "Core" - with a new program in "General Education" that promises to be, well, more or less identical to the old Core.
FlyBy teems with anticipation at the expected Douthat column on Harvard's curriculum, as this has been his focus since leaving his Quincy house residence. It may be the only time a good number of Harvard students agree with the conservative columnist's thoughts. Oh, and have you been trying out different pronunciations of his name while reading this? FlyBy's got you covered: it's DOW-thut.
CORRECTION: The original version of "Ross Douthat and Gen-Ed" stated that Douthat would be joining the New York Times the day after the post ran. In fact, he has been hired for the columnist position, but will not begin writing columns until mid-April. The Crimson regrets the error.