Bok Calls Bloom Bestseller 'Mean-Spirited'

President Bok last week criticized the widely-debated book by Professor Allan Bloom, "The Closing of the American Mind", calling it "a mean spirited book" that offers an anachronistic view of American education.

Bok said in an interview that Bloom's book was part of a larger trend toward blaming higher education for national ills. "America has a peculiar penchant--when people are troubled by the way society is going, they blame education," he said.

The book, which this summer climbed to the top of the New York Times best-seller list, has attracted national attention for its criticism of education in the contemporary university.

In the 392-page work, Bloom charged that universities had left their students without any moral rudders or appreciation for the fundamentals of Western thought.

Bok took issue with Bloom. In a wide-ranging critique last week, the president attacked what he said was Bloom's narrow conception of what should be taught in American universities.

"He assumes there is only one worthwhile way of organizing the curriculum--that is the Great Books," Bok said. "To say that's the only serious kind of learning is intellecutal arrogance."

Bloom wrongly advocates a return to an illusory "golden age" of higher learning to replace what the professor perceives as current decadence, Bok said.

"This book makes people think their minds are being warped," Bok added.

In an interview yesterday, Bloom, a classicist and philosopher, defended his work. While he said he wasn't surprised by Bok's assessment of the book, Bloom challenged the president and other university administrators to give an accounting of the moral education students are receiving.

Similar charges were made by Education Secretary William J. Bennett last fall. In a debate with Bok inSanders Theater, Bennett called for the nation'suniversities, Harvard included, to measure andreport how much their students are learning.

Bloom yesterday said that Harvard is "no worse"than any other American university in its morallassitude.

He cautioned in the interview, however, that hewasn't seeking a complete rejection of value-freelearning as some critics have charged.

"It's not true that I'm for moral absolutes.I'm for theoretical reflections on these things,"he said. Bloom said he was opposed to dogmaticacceptance of moral relativism. He said a courseon moral relativism ought to be incorporated intothe curriculum.

He also denied charges by some critics that heblames students for their moral defects. "Itwouldn't be fair to say I'm attacking students."

Asked if he had any advice for Bok, the Chicagoprofessor said he did not want to get into a warwith Harvard