The storming of the US Capitol on 6 January prompted a spate of statements, essays, and other reflections, particularly by US college presidents. What is the purpose of education, and what is the role of colleges in imparting higher ideals such as civic awareness and a respect for minority rights? US-based academic Wu Guo analyses the situation.
In this file photo taken on 6 January 2021 Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Alex Edelman/AFP)
The storming of the US Capitol that shocked the world on 6 January 2021 has sparked multi-faceted reflections among America’s higher-education institutions, which are worth attention.
A commentary by Patricia McGuire — president of Trinity Washington University — in the Chronicle of Higher Education said that following the incident, some college presidents were quick to issue statements, questioning problems with higher education, which “must own some responsibility for the moral failures that established the conditions that led to the January 6 insurrection”.
The meaning of higher education
She felt that higher education “should be the great counterweight to government, the reliable steward of truth and knowledge against the corrupting tendency of politics to manipulate facts”, and yet in recent years, “few college presidents dared to challenge this tsunami of official lies”. This silence has allowed one lie to spread: that the “white majority is diminishing as Black and brown Americans grow in numbers and political power”.
Continue @ https://www.thinkchina.sg/us-colleges-rethink-purpose-higher-education-after-capitol-siege
Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of the Chinese Studies Programme, Allegheny College
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