Have you ever gone to a history museum and concluded that the heavy hand of academia has crushed the joy and excitement?
Andrew Ferguson explores one example:
In an age of hyperspecialization, profs and curators face the same professional hazard: As they burrow into the remotest crannies of whatever sub-sub-subdiscipline has entranced them, they forget what their jobs are for. A far-gone English professor will try to turn freshmen into deconstructionist literary theorists when all they really want is for someone to explain what The Golden Bowl is supposed to be about; in the same way a museum curator will forget why people come to look at museums in the first place. At the Smithsonian the curators appeared lost in a dorm room bull session or the defense of a second-rate dissertation. A wall plaque from a recent exhibit gives the flavor: "In daily life, national identity often merges, overlaps, and interacts with many other kinds of identities, [which] can help illuminate the forces that have shaped American history." The plaque was alongside a display of a cheesehead hat from the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign.
1 comment:
Don't you often wonder what those academics were like when they first got interested in their field?
Personally, I'm glad I discovered Shakespeare through Shakespeare in the Park, and didn't have to depend on English professors. I'm glad my father took me to Gettysburg to walk Pickett's Charge, so I understand it in a way no book can convey.
I just looked at the above and leaving it there leaves out the wonderful teachers I had who were passionate about their subject and who loved to teach. So, at the high school level, and knowing that I'm leaving many out, thanks to Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Karp, and Mr. Dubno.
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