Slacking : Wandering Through the Ivies

Don’t trust the Ivy League to produce well-educated students. Sticker prices of $80,000-plus buy prestige but not knowledge or wisdom. Just read the course descriptions. Cornell has “transgender animal studies," Cardi B, and "intersectional disability studies." Yale has "pop sapphism" and "comparative settler geographies." Penn has "reality TV and gender" and "decolonizing French food." Princeton has "shoes."All these courses meet general education requirements.A generation ago, the question was: Do the great universities still require Shakespeare, Western Civilization, and American history? The answer was, increasingly, no. Today, the question is: Do the great universities still offer even one worthwhile course on Shakespeare, Western Civ, and U.S. history?The answer is: yes, barely.Serious students can still get a great education at Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, or Dartmouth, but they have to work for it. This book provides strivers with the information they need to get the education they deserve. A content-rich, classical education remains available if they know what to look for.Columbia is the exception—maybe. But if its courses are so good, why were the encampments there so imprudent and immature?Each chapter ends with a Tale of Two Cornells. If a dedicated slacker wants to skate through the requirements for entertainment, reinforcement of political biases, and narrow specialization, it''s easy to choose poorly. If a striver wants the opposite, it takes effort to choose well.The contrast provides a stark wake-up call for curriculum reform at America''s best-known colleges. Make college great again!

Prestige no longer ensures substance at Ivy League schools; students must navigate a maze of shallow, politicized courses to uncover the rare gems of a classical education, exposing the need for academic renewal. "This book is a banquet of the absurdities that Ivy League universities serve up to their students under the rubric of general education. Anyone who wonders how the graduates of America’s elite institutions come by their jaundiced view of our country should start here. The few who refuse to “slack” are limited to the hard sciences and the few remaining excellent courses in the humanities."—Peter Wood, President, National Association of ScholarsIvy League universities can no longer be trusted to produce well-educated students. Even a cursory review of the course titles at top schools shows that these $320,000-plus diplomas may confer legacy prestige to graduates, but not necessarily knowledge or wisdom. At Cornell, for example, students can take Queer Girlhood, Beyoncé Nation, and Intersectional Disability Studies. The course list at Yale includes Pop Sapphism and Comparative Settler Geographies. At Princeton: Shoes. Penn offers Reality TV and Gender and Decolonizing French Food. Even worse, these courses actually fulfill general education requirements. It is still possible to earn a great education at Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, or Dartmouth, but doing so requires prudence and persistence. In Slacking, Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan dedicate one chapter to each Ivy League college, providing specific information about the coursework that serious students should pursue to extract a real education from these decaying institutions. Every chapter concludes with two course lists, both of which meet the school’s general education requirements. One displays the worst collection of courses that an inveterate “slacker” could take to skate through the requirements for entertainment, reinforcement of political biases, and narrow specialization. The other lists the best choice of courses a dedicated striver could take to acquire a well rounded, content-rich liberal education. The contrast between the two sounds a rousing alarm bell for curriculum reform at America’s best-known colleges.