Virtues of Amateurism

...Brustein sees this as part of a widespread and pernicious development in contemporary America, the deterioration of the "concept of professionalism"—embracing those qualities (intelligence, dedication, training, experience, skill) necessary to the achievement of excellence...

...Would a professor in Nazi Germany have been justified in making a similar reply to a distressed student...

...Brustein publicly and resolutely stood by it in the tense hours of last spring's Black Panther incidents at Yale...

...And you should be dealing with it...

...During a class on Jacobean tragedy a radical student climbed in through a window to rebuke those continuing their academic pursuits while Bobby Seale's fate hung in the balance: "There's a reality happening out there...

...Correspondingly, he employs the rubric "amateurism" to characterize the vices of the new radicals (self-indulgence, emotionalism, lack of dedication and discipline, rejection of all authority, politicization...

...To be sure, most faculty members—especially the older ones —are united in support of tenure and other scholarly privileges, and in opposition to violence or extreme politicization on the campus...

...An anecdote in his essay "When the Panther Came to Yale" strikingly illustrates his point of view...

...on the contrary, it must be governed by exacting intellectual standards...

...Socratic wisdom cannot be handed down from generation to generation in the same manner as the knowledge of shoe-making...

...Professionalism in its highest sense—the unflagging dedication to doing one's work well—is, in practice, a noble response to the nihilistic temptations of modern life...

...The "mechanical" or practical arts are the sphere of the professional...

...Engineering and the modern natural sciences have resisted the onslaught of amateurism precisely because they have a professional character...

...There is indeed a philosophic "tradition," reflecting the common ground of the great works of the Western mind...

...But that tradition has been in a state of self-doubt for almost a century now: There is no longer agreement about how to deal with the most important questions, unless it is the general acknowledgement that philosophy is incapable of dealing with them...

...But he fails to make the relevant political argument...

...Virtually none, however, will affirm the principle of the "aloof" university in times of crisis...

...The maintenance of these standards is the responsibility of the faculty, and the primary function of the teacher is "to communicate knowledge from one who knows to one who doesn't...

...Brustein attempts to relate this prime weapon in the campaign for student power to the political failures of liberalism (with consequent guilt feelings among the politically liberal majority of the faculty) and to our youth-worshipping culture...

...One major cause of the decline of professionalism, Brustein argues, is the application of a distorted notion of democracy ("that sentimental egalitarianism which assumes that each man excels in everything") to intrinsically hierarchical activities...

...This theoretical impasse is fundamentally responsible for the breakdown of the university...

...The popular conception of American professors as champions of the "ivory tower" is almost wholly misleading...

...but under the pressure of student demands the hierarchically structured classroom is increasingly giving way to the " 'rap session,' where the student's opinion about the material receives more attention than the material itself, if indeed the material is still being treated...

...Yet Brustein's is not really a political, much less an ideological, cast of mind...

...Brustein of course recognizes this fact, noting that "the problem is exacerbated in the humanities and the social sciences with their more subjective criteria of judgment...

...That the academy gives free reign to the "personal, private and metaphysical," Brustein insists, does not mean it is the home of license...

...Brustein's largely apolitical idea of the university is not surprising, for his entire outlook seems to be rooted in his devotion to "high art" and "the great works of the mind...

...His advocacy of the university's traditional role rests upon the conviction that "the personal, private and metaphysical side of humanity must be kept free from encroachment by the public and political imperatives of the time...

...Brustein, who plainly states his opposition to violent overthrow of the government, would say that it is not...

...In fact, the prevailing uncertainty about the academic curriculum is not (as Brustein's discussion implies) a result of the decline of professionalism...

...And, despite his distaste for the new radicals and his forthright repudiation of their assault on academia, he seems to accept most of the contemporary Leftist critique of American politics...

...But to understand the liberal arts as the province of various highly specialized "professionals" is to distort their true nature...

...the liberal arts, with philosophy at their core, must remain the preserve of the amateur, since their concern is with men as human beings, irrespective of vocation...

...The student-teacher relationship cannot properly be one of equality...

...The fine arts, including drama, insofar as they involve craftsmanship, share this character...

...The case for the traditional university is thus identified with "The Case for Professionalism," and its decline with "The Decline of Professionalism" (the titles of the two essays comprising the chapter on "The Crisis of the University...

...There are twenty-four hours in each day—our seminar meets two hours a week?so there's plenty of time left for political activity without interrupting us...

...The real value of Robert Brustein's collection of essays, letters and speeches lies in its bold attempt to defend "traditional academic aloofness and autonomy" against those who wish to make the university a "service" institution and an instrument of social change...

...Welcome as it may be in this politicized period, is Brustein's response sufficient to counter the claims raised by the revolutionaries...

...Reviewed by Marc F. Plattner Revolution as Theatre is only secondarily about revolution and only incidentally about theater...

...Rather, the professors' doubt about their ability to educate is symptomatic of the intellectual disarray within all fields of humane learning...

...But it cannot answer the dilemma of a man—or an institution—devoted to theory...

...In calling for a university that is both home to the life of the mind and a bastion of professionalism, Brustein makes inherently contradictory demands...

...Yet these explain neither the unwillingness of the professors to stand by their profession, nor why the focal point of the academic crisis has been the liberal arts...

...Within the current American context, then, the crucial question becomes whether or not our regime is despicable...

...Clearly, there are times when the urgency of "public and political imperatives" must override all private claims...

...There's a reality in here too," Brustein answered...

...He seems not to realize, though, the full importance of this distinction and its implication for his entire argument...

...A distinguished theater critic, now Dean of the Yale Drama School, Brustein has always considered himself a man of the Left...

...This deep appreciation of the intellect's attainments infuses the discussion of the university, which he feels has to be an institution "where excellence prevails...

...Engineering students, after all, have not sought to convert classes in structural mechanics into rap sessions, or demanded courses in black engineering...

...under a despicable regime, all "business as usual" must be sacrificed...