(FORTUNE Magazine) – We have lots of national problems: the plight of blacks and the homeless, AIDS, poverty. But the ignorance of the intellectual class is our greatest problem. Radical egalitarianism and the doctrine of relativism -- the idea that all standards are imposed artificially from without -- dominate our universities. We will pay a price if our universities are no longer repositories for serious discussion of the principles by which we ought to live. Even if one is worrying about an issue such as economic competition with Japan, we have a problem. Education can be good only if it sets high standards of excellence and gives special attention to the best. But in this country we listen to the philosopher John Rawls, who tells us that everyone has a natural civil right to esteem himself -- no matter what he does. So we worry about the psychological damage done by competition. By contrast, the Japanese and Koreans don't care whether their kids feel good about themselves. And their children do much better, according to these exams that offer international comparisons in math and science. The kids in Tiananmen Square said they wanted education, from America in particular. But all we can tell them is, ''Don't be Euro-centric. Milton was a sexist, and Shakespeare was just an early colonialist.''