‘THE NEW ILLITERATES’

D’Souza sounds in his excerpt like the prototype for all the Sam Kinnisons of academe who throw themselves into a collective shriek at the mention of the canon. While they pound the floor and yell something about picking up their list and staying home, the rest of us wonder why they pick up the pen instead of the pacifier.

Then again, maybe chronic confusion of intellect with genitals makes them equate a new idea with castration. In that case, we can understand their frustration, poor dears, and when the tantrum’s over, maybe they’d like to join the rest of us in the real work of education: living together honorably through understanding.

KATE McFADDEN, ARCADIA