Essay

One man disagreed with all these views and dared to challenge the establishments that make America what it is today. Allan Bloom with his book, “The Closing of the American Mind,” criticizes nearlyevery aspect of the American life and explains his view on how democracy and education have failed the United States. Many critics have viewed Bloom’s ideas as partially ridiculous at least to anextent. Although many of his ideas can be described as farfetched, there is no doubt that his ideas are based on actual observations and must be taken seriously in order for things to improve in the UnitedStates. In the following paragraphs, I will defend many of Allan Bloom’s ideas, especially those dealing with higher education, and show how there truly has been a change in America for the worse.At the very start of his book, Allan Bloom begins by acknowledging many of the problems he observes in the educational system in America, especially the problem of openness. Bloom
describes that thisopenness being taught by primary education in America results in American conformism, “a closing of the American mind,” by the reason that people feel like they don’t need others anymore (Bloom 34).In the past, people had to recognize and accept man’s natural rights to be able to find a fundamental basis of unity, but now people are open to all types of views with nearly no shared views (Bloom27). As a student coming from a foreign country, I
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can attest to this statement. When debating controversial topics, students avoid correcting mistakes in my own views and rather reach apoint where all views are correct. This new openness in American education has led to the creation of students who seem to just accept all views and avoid using reason to declare other points of viewas erroneous. As people who need to grow and learn, error is of course our enemy, but it is the only way to reach the truth and is therefore necessary in our lives (Bloom 43). According to John...