Month: June 2011

“A Wise Provincialism in Education”

Thomas Fleming in The Morality of Everyday Life warns of the dangers of devoting our
lives to universal abstractions like “the rights of man,” “compassion for suffering
humanity,” or “international relief and development.” Liberalism, generally, has made
much of such things, including the goal of “educational excellence for all” by means of
state standards and subsidies. What gets lost in the lofty rhetoric, invariably, is what we
might call local patriotism which, with its communal freedom and network of personal
loyalties, serves as the true matrix of virtue. In the excerpt below, Harvard’s Josiah
Royce (1855-1916) is the source for my title, “A Wise Provincialism in Education.”

Internationalists ask us to sacrifice family and friends and all our lesser loyalties to the
global idea. Josiah Royce, by contrast, made the principle of loyalty the basis of his
moral philosophy. Although Royce was a Harvard philosopher, he had learned a great
deal from his mother, whose diary of a westward trek he published. On that trek his
mother noticed that even strangers on a wagon train or in a mining camp could develop
into a little community whose members, loyal to the group, treated one another with
respect.

According to Royce, we begin by accepting the various petty responsibilities that may
be thrust upon us and, in the course of our lives, assume more and more loyalties. The
ultimate principle he called “loyalty to loyalty,” by which he meant a sort of Golden Rule
of obligation: In making decisions, we are to consider whether our acts will augment or
diminish the loyalty not just of ourselves, but of other people, even our adversaries.

At the very beginning of American philanthropy, Royce applied his principle to the
Carnegie Foundation’s effort to raise the standards of American colleges, and he
rejected the foundation’s universalism in favor of “a wise provincialism in education.” He
was all in favor of high standards, but there was no need for all the colleges in America
to have the same standards.

Royce feared the centralization of standards and power that would inevitably subvert
the lesser provincial loyalties that are always (whether in classical Greece, medieval
Italy, or frontier America) the foundation of a robust moral and cultural life. From this
point of view, there is an inevitable clash between loyalty to tradition and family and the
obedience that is owed to the state, especially when the state is bent on increasing its
power.

Today, it is to be lamented, such common sense may be lost on us. Perhaps we don’t
really trust our neighbors and thus prefer the supposed-quality that comes from
supposed-experts via central planning. But neither the UN, nor DC, nor the State of
Ohio can teach our children. It is doubtful they even care about them, other than as
taxpayers-to-be (tomorrow’s urban workforce living by mass consumption). Centralized
schooling (like most centralized things) can only enslave and impoverish us.

Please keep in mind that for June, you should take a little time to review the
Summer 2010 Quiz (mostly about the ancient Greeks) and the Fall 2010
Quiz (mostly about the Romans). Again, if you no longer have the test
booklets, you can find what you need on the Veritas website.
Here are a couple of things that have stood out in my review thus far: the
rationale behind Socratesʼ observation about true philosophers never
fearing death (Summer, #8), and Aristotleʼs reasons for being wary of any
of the three basic forms of government in their purest expressions
(Summer, #14).
What follows are some comments on last weekʼs Almanac readings:
June 14 — Whatever Happened to Chivalry? please note the description
or definition of this ideal, and make sure you know the meaning of
noblesse oblige (a French expression carried right over into English);
today, as the author observes, we are apt to regard chivalry as an
outmoded medieval concept, but in reality it is Christian to the core. Can
you explain, in a deep theological sense, how this is so?
June 16 — Benedictʼs Concession (Pope Benedict XIV); know what
“vernacular” refers to as in “vernacular translations”; also, take note of what
version of the Bible had become the exclusive standard by the late Middle
Ages; What fears and concerns drove the late Medieval and Renaissance
Catholic Church to make war on various versions of the Bible?

Lastly, in light of historic battles over the Bible, we should pause to note
that the present year (2011) happens to be the 400th anniversary of the
publication of the English King James Version (1611). It appears that that
sacred book, says Aaron Wolf in the June issue of Chronicles magazine,
“has finally started to yield up the ghost. And that is a shame, because the
King James Version is, hardly arguably, the single-most influential book in
the modern English-speaking world. So much so that, while its liturgical
use is all but lost, it still sways the imagination of those who once heard it.”

This summer’s history & heritage assignment, should you choose to accept it, is
to review the past 4 exams (Summer 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011) and to read the Christian Almanac Sketches (main article only) for Tuesday and Thursday for the months of June, July, and August.

If you have not saved the earlier test booklets, you’ll find them on the Veritas
website. For the first half of June you should review Summer 2010, and for the second
half Fall 2010.
The Almanac articles for June are as follows: June 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28,
30. Thus far, here’s what I’ve got in terms of possible answers to questions:
June 2 — Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919) and the Bible; please note Roosevelt’s
utterly accurate observation that, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than
a college education.” If only TR had lived to see our bastions of higher learning. I’m
sure he’d have amended his remark to read “ten thousand college educations.”
June 7 — Richard Henry Lee of Virginia (1732 – 1794); please note that this American Founding Father, who played such a vital role in the independence movement, was the great-uncle of the Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870).
June 9 — “Women and Children First” or Nellie Taft (wife of President William Howard Taft, an Ohioan, who was president from 1909 – 1913); please note what became of Mrs. Taft’s monument to male chivalry in the 1970’s during the height of the feminist movement. Fortunately, the monument lives still along the banks of the Potomac.
June 9 — Therese of Lisieux (1873 – 1897); please note the correct spelling of
“Lisieux” and that Therese was a French Discalced (barefoot) Carmelite nun who lived
only 24 years. Her famous autobiography is entitled Story of a Soul. She’s best known
for her simple courtesies and kindnesses, and an overwhelming mystical experience
which she took to indicate God’s approval of her self-offering in the service of His love.
Today, in the domain of Roman Catholicism, there are many claims of conversions and
miracles resulting from her saintly intercessory prayers.