In this article, the author reports on an awareness of controversial incidents on campuses around North America surrounding "politically correct" speech codes and thought control measures instituted at the behest of faculty and students of this ideological persuasion. It seems that critical theory is going beyond "critical thinking" to a harsh and accusatory language of criticalism that aggravates cultural divisions. On the other hand, the author contests that, through a liberal education, the individual is initiated into the shared values and common understanding of a true culture, not the "cultures" identified by critical theorists. The capacity of western culture to be self-critical and to absorb ideas and accommodate thoughts from all over the world is part of what Robert M. Hutchins called "The Great Conversation" of Western civilization. This author states that criticalists should take their share of responsibility for the impoverished education today's students receive. As Henry Giroux wrote in "Teachers as Intellectuals," the goal should be to get students to learn how to affirm their own experiences and to understand the need to struggle individually and collectively for a more just society.