One investment that pays off
Here’s some therapeutic news in these hard times. Call it stealth benevolence.
Someone – or some group – has been giving huge sums of money recently to several unversitities anonymously. In fact, keeping their identity secret was the main condition for these schools to receive the cash.
The gifts ranged from $8 million at Purdue to $1.5 million donated to the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The University of Iowa received $7 million; the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Maryland University College got $6 million each; the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was given $5.5 million; and Penn State-Harrisburg received $3 million.
It’s not clear whether the gifts came from an individual, an organization or a group of people with similar interests. In every case, the donor or donors dealt with the universities through lawyers or other middlemen. Some of the money came in cashier’s checks, while other schools received checks from a law firm or another representative.
All the schools had to agree not to investigate the identity of the giver. Some were required to make such a promise in writing…
Each was delivered since March 1 and came with the same stipulation: Most of the money must be used for student scholarships, and the remainder can be spent on various costs such as research, equipment, strategic goals and operating support.
It would yield the greatest benefits to society if it also required that they teach a classical liberal education and promote critical thinking skills. And add a Great Books program.
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Wow, this is a remarkable story. It’s good to know people are still showing a spirit of generosity in a culture that has become so self centered. I also share Sheila’s hope that these universities will adopt a classical liberal education and add a Great Books program. True education is being lost as moral relativism and leftist doctrines are pushed as “truths” by educators in the liberal arts. Students are indoctrinated rather than taught to question and seek real truth. It reminds me of a book I just read by townhall.com columnist Mike Adams, called “Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor.” Anyway, the culture war going on in our nation’s universities is a topic for a different time.
The real reason I’m commenting because I am very interested in what Sheila said about a “classical liberal education.” I recently started reading the book “The Well Educated Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer. I was introduced to the concept of the trivium and some of the “Great Books” within various genres throughout history.
I am Catholic but didn’t go to private schools and have really been feeling a thirst in the past few years to supplement my public education. Thus, my question to Sheila and any others reading this comment is the following:
Does anyone know of any other works that help guide adults in a self directed study of a classical liberal education? Perhaps a master list of the “Great Books?” Perhaps another work similar to Susan Wise Bauer’s book? Who are the definitive authorities on the subject of a classical liberal education? I’m very interested in hearing everyone’s suggestions. Thanks so much!
Anne-There’s such a wealth of resources on logic, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy, literature, the arts… being eager to engage them is a great motivation to devote the time.
Let’s see…Aristotle (one reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachean_Ethics), Augustine, Aquinas, John Henry Newman, G.K. Chesterton, Dostoevsky, Alexis de Tocqueville, Christopher Dawson…
For anyone who doesn’t want to tackle the Summa, philosopher Peter Kreeft has a shorter Summa at Ignatius Press.
Anne- I would firmly second all of Sheila’s suggestions, and I realize that might appear daunting. In his work entitled The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman suggests that one best pursues education not by trying to gather in trivia about a great many things, but by doing “a LITTLE well.” On the face of it, that might seem like an argument FOR specialization not a well-rounded classical education, but it really isn’t. In practice, it means taking a given thing – say, a particular work by a particular author – and knowing it well via those universally applicable skill sets: the 7 liberal arts. By the end of such an endeavor, one finds they understand the particular work not in isolation but in its place in the web of ideas. In short, one sees how the thing is trying to get at the Truth, the only proper specialization for any education. As an example, in chapter 4 of the second part of Newman’s book, he relates a somewhat humorous scene in which an examiner for a university entrance exam tries to tease out what the candidate knows about grammar by asking him questions about a certain work of Greek literature. It turns out that in the simple expression “the assent” is contained a whole host of related ideas about etymology, geography, and history.
So, when embarking on the project of a classical education, I would recommend you read whatever you can get your hands on, but do not try to do it all at once. Find something and read it thoroughly. Know its author. Know the context of its composition. Know the style with which it is composed. Be able to chart the logic of its arguments or the principles of its art. Be able to name its related works and motivations. Was it a response to something? Did something later respond to it? If you attempt to tackle just one question in the Summa like this, or one book by Chesterton, or one essay by Dawson, you’ll find you have a great jumping off point for all sorts of intellectual adventure.
Hello
I have been forwarded this discussion blog by Sheila. I am a long-time professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at Notre Dame, Notre Dame’s “great books” program. I am also retiring president of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, an association anyone interested in classical liberal arts education should know about (www.coretexts.org). You can get information on several programs from that website, and get to their reading lists. My own program can be accessed at http://www.nd.edu/~pls. This will get you to our own reading lists and curriculum.
The most important thing to do to get going on this is to find a group of likeminded people who would be interested in discussing these books. The Great Books Foundation in Chicago has long had teaching aids and other materials for such groups.
Phillip Sloan
At Sheila’s request, I’m also providing some info for Anne…
At Wyoming Catholic College, we are embarking on a bold journey to offer authentic Catholic higher education, using a Great Books, thoroughly integrated curriculum. Thomas Aquinas College is also using a similar approach. You can read about our approach and the value of a liberal arts education in our Philosophical Vision Statement here: http://www.wyomingcatholiccollege.com/tabid/59/Default.aspx
Mark
I would like to affirm that which has already been said above. I went through Notre Dame’s “Great Books” program, the Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) (class of ’98), and had the happy privilege of being a student of Professor Sloan. I have found this education to be inestimably helpful for both my law studies (Berkeley, ’01) and my theology studies (Mundelein Seminary, ’10).
As far as lists go, I would recommend PLS’s seminar and tutorial book lists (as Professor Sloan) did, with the addition of Part I of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas. I would also add the works of Etienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain (particularly the latter’s “The Degrees of Knowledge”). Alasdair MacIntyre’s “After Virtue” should really be read as well. Spiritual writers sometimes get lost, but especially if you are interested in deepening your prayer-life, I would add: Athanasius’s, “The Life of St. Anthony”; St. John of the Cross, “The Ascent of Mount Carmel” and his other writings (a very helpful text to go along with this would be Fr. Leonard Boase, S.J.’s “The Prayer of Faith”), and St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “Spiritual Exercises” (a good series of texts to assist with this reading would be Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV’s “The Discernment of Spirits” and “Spiritual Consolation.”).
Happy reading!
Shawn