On not "canceling" the Western literary canon

 In the Washington Post today, an opinion article by Cornel West and Jeremy Tate discuss Howard University's decision to dissolve its Classics Department. "Academia's continual campaign to disregard or neglect the classics is a sign of spiritual decay, moral decline and deep intellectual narrowness running amok in American culture." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/cornel-west-howard-classics/

I have avoided the "classics" since leaving college over 30 years ago. I continue to have a bad attitude about the importance of reading old white dead guys' works. I do, however, agree with West and Tate that some of our greatest modern and historical activists read and learned from these men and for that reason they should still be taught. I am going to have to do some research to see what my iconic women read to see if they too, read the classics and learned and adapted those readings to fit into their world view.

West and Tate convince me that there is value in reading them, with this new airing of the importance of reading these works I may have to do a reread of some of them. Maybe, perhaps, still not enjoying reading dead white guys so we'll see.