There are many kinds of reformers. Those who feel the need of introducing if not enforcing a better course of action with regard to the status quo. This is what is hoped for in the mind of the reformer. But any such reformation brings with it, its own set of problems, that is, unintended consequences.
This is apparent when we look at the history of educational reforms starting with Horace Mann (1796–1859) who was perhaps one of the most influential of American educational reformers, going all the way to Allan Bloom with his book, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students (1987).
No one can say today’s educational system is not without its problems many of which, arguably, came from the reformers themselves, especially, on the left of the political spectrum. In other words, no reform can guarantee to solve the problems which it tries to address. The problems continue and may even grow worse over time. Most are simply swept under the carpet or ignored: see problem, say nothing. Then a new narrative is put into place to hide the failure of the reform.
But now let’s look at Buddhism in America and then how it connects with our educational system.
Buddhism’s reformers are more like interpreter-gatekeepers who wish to make the words of the Buddha palatable for the general population who don’t have a mind for religious thought, in part due to reformers like Horace Mann who feared the passions that might be raised by the study of religion and also politics; only allowing a limited, watered down study of religion and politics in the curriculum. This results in a false “openness” (closer to credulity or blankness) by keeping the mind closed, especially, when it comes to religion.
The educational system seems then to have been created and maintained as a kind of academic Peter Pan world for dreamers. These young dreamers have avoided, thus far, a serious life which includes the depth of religious thought and a political landscape that affects wages and the options they might have by which to live a life without poverty. Moreover, they have no idea of the risk and hardship behind important choices they will have to make in the future. For them choice is somewhat of a triviality. This may explain the phenomenon of Dr. Jordan Peterson but also the popularity of his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018). Peterson’s book comes on the heels of academia’s slide into the closed mind: a mind that refuses to acknowledge or live in the real world.
When today’s graduate steps into the real world for the first time with such a closed mind with its fake openness, they are shocked. Over time, they can’t help but grow more resentful and vengeful because their promised entitled life is slipping away. As a result of this growing problem, and even in some cases depression, they try out Buddhism or Zen only to find out that their mind becomes even more closed. In other words, reality is never allowed to set in. They try their best to stop it.
A Dharma center or a Zen center is really a group of lost, close-minded people who huddle together in subconscious fear using meditation to overcome their immaturity.
The parts of Buddhism that are usually closed off to such people have to do with rebirth and the transmigrant who survives death, the self or ātman, attachment to this world of appearance, and the fact that nirvana is not third-person knowledge which makes its realization mystical in the sense of requiring spiritual intuition. With the absence or playing down of these important components of Buddhism what is left? It’s western Buddhism which to be honest is Buddhism in name only.