This Bloggingheads discussion about the state of the American university is priceless. It’s hard not to feel like it’s the late 1980s and I’m listening to Allan Bloom.

My favorite segment, hands down, is the one on not pursuing one’s passions in college. But a very, very close second is the segment on why university students ought not to be having any fun at school.

It’s almost like these two can’t figure out how to motivate students, prepare them for the future, teach them some things that they don’t yet know ought to interest them — like classic works of political theory, let’s say — and at the same time allow them to make some choices for themselves [gasp!].

My sense is that it’s possible to excite students, even about classic texts, without being a complete scold about it. Or at least I hope so …