PodcastsGeneral Education
Jonathan Marks: “Liberal Education Corrects Our Narrowness”
Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus
Andy Kessler’s op-ed, “Great Books for a Brainwashing” (July 28), is a sobering reminder of the damage that fair-sounding summer reading initiatives have been doing now for some years, by which colleges prime students for social justice activism via summer reading requirements. It does not have to be this way. Under the leadership of University of Colorado president, Senator Hank Brown, a habitually left-leaning university nonetheless launched a summer reading program, with support from the Manhattan Institute’s Veritas Fund, that was built on a different model. The summer reading included texts ranging from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to the Federalist Papers to Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Over 60 faculty members, mostly political liberals, walked students through discussion of the challenges of maintaining a free society, and acquainted them with core documents of the Western heritage. The secret ingredient is, of course, leadership, from the trustees through the president and on to the deans and faculty. It is imperative that governing boards stop their hands-off deference to the will of the faculty and student life professionals and take an active role in setting policies that eschew political indoctrination and acquaint young minds with the living legacy of our past.
Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus
There is no denying it: One of the effects of technological advancement is the overspecialization of the workforce. Gone are the days of the local family practitioner. Now there are cardiologists, chiropractors, neurologists, and geneticists...
Benno Schmidt, an extraordinary educator and an extraordinary friend to ACTA, has died. We deeply mourn his loss. There are few who brought such versatility of vision and intellect to the most important issues in education. He was a fierce and consistent defender of campus freedom of expression, deeply committed to the First Amendment and […]
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