Modified Wed, Jan 30, 2013 09:56 PM

An attack on all

In his recent radio interview, Gov. Pat McCrory has shown us he’s ready to join the confederacy of dunces who now govern other Southern states. His remarks on liberal arts studies at UNC further underscore he has shed the moderate skin he wore as mayor of Charlotte. Make no mistake about it. These plans are in part the brainchild of our new shadow governor, Art Pope. Pope has been wildly criticized for his attempts to meddle his way into North Carolina’s universities.

The governor criticizes educational elite who are in charge of UNC’s curriculum. These are exactly who should be in charge. Knowledge should not be ridiculed; it should be celebrated. Like Rick Santorum, he has joined a group of conservatives who fear what becomes of children who receive a university education.

I received a degree in French from UNC-Chapel Hill – a degree at which these gentlemen would likely scoff. However, I am now working in higher education for a university in Paris, and this subsidized degree has served me well.

Funding of the liberal arts and technical schools should not be mutually exclusive, and an attack on one is an attack on the state’s commitment to higher education as a whole.

Kevin Paul, Greensboro

via Kevin Paul: An attack on all – Letters – NewsObserver.com.