Western Civ Takes Off in Australia
Inside HigherEd | John Ross
Despite encountering “intense hostility” from the staff of universities, Australia’s controversial Western civilization courses are popular with students. “Staff said that the programs… undermine institutional autonomy and promote uncritically triumphalist perspectives of Western civilization to cadres of privileged white students—claims the universities deny.”
“The programs commenced in 2020, taught in groups of about 10 per class—in stark contrast to many Australian undergraduate programs, where hundreds of students pack lecture halls…”
The program director “said his program aimed to look at Western civilization in its complexity, acknowledging its shortcomings. ‘To fix it or make it better, you have to understand it,’ he said. ‘The students say, ‘My brain hurts—I’m having to challenge everything I believed up until now.’”
