Lehrman American Studies Center

Admissions boards should consider student character as much as, perhaps more than, their ability.

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In a recent post on teaching the U.S. history survey, I wrote about how best to discuss with students the complex paradoxes present in America's past. I also mentioned that freedom is one of my course's central themes. I typically examine the intellectual roots of the concept of human liberty, why freedom emerged in the British American colonies in the 17th–18th centuries, and how/why Americans have debated the parameters of freedom ever since. But I've always struggled to find the right balance in discussing some of the grimmer realities of American history alongside America's profoundly important ideals and idealism.

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Connecting classical political thought and contemporary problems.

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Is it possible to learn through doing? To what degree is a liberal arts general education curriculum truly liberal arts if one involves students in service learning—in learning through doing? In my journey through leading the revision of the general education curriculum at my own university, I have encountered various arguments for and against this question. Some argue that service learning unduly muddles a true liberal arts curriculum with avant-garde pedagogy and a substitution of academic rigor with experiential learning. Others suggest that liberal arts education in the 21st century has to include some type of experiential learning to relate the intellect and the will in the constantly changing global landscape.

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Liberal education for Professor Eva T.H. Brann consists of "artfully superintended conversations . . . aided by great books." It provides Americans with an education that suits its political regime, a matching, according to Brann, that Aristotle would have recommended. Studying the classics and the American founding does "not aim at a return to the past but at its re-appropriation for the present."

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Is this statement true, false, or uncertain? Explain fully.

"Liberal education implies integration of knowledge. Professors of liberal learning must be well-integrated people. They should avoid narrow specialization in their own discipline: their aim should be to be conversant in many disciplines. Hence their work should always be interdisciplinary, crossing the artificial boundaries set up by modern academia."

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Debating the character of national political structures—in this case Canadian.

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Concluding thoughts on the nature of true philosophy and authentic liberal arts at a Christian school.

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Whenever anybody asks what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m a professor of political economy. Invariably, the person who asked responds, “Wow! You certainly have a lot to talk about today!” Even my academic colleagues will say this to me if some event such as a large bank failure dominates the headlines. The underlying implication of this statement is that professors in my discipline deal primarily with “current events.” In other words, we explain what is reported in the newspapers or on cable news.

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Evaluating and revising a general education curriculum is much like a journey through the Land of Mordor on the way to Mount Doom. Few are one’s allies, many are one’s enemies, perils abound and there is darkness everywhere. I may perhaps write about allies and enemies alike at some other time. For now, I want to write about some of the perils and darkness that pervade the terrain.

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