Georgia Nugent addresses the subject of civility in
society Tuesday night at the Ferguson Library in Stamford
In her informative and entertaining presentation at the Ferguson Library Tuesday evening, Ms. Nugent laid out her case for both the enduring and civilizing value of a liberal arts education and the reasons for attending one of the 600 plus small private colleges in the United States.
Ms. Nugent attended Princeton cum laude and is a member of its first graduating class to include women (1973).
She went on to earn her Ph.D in Classics at Cornell; then she taught at Swarthmore, Brown and Princeton.
She has the credentials to be an Ivy League President, but elected to be President of Kenyon College, a small top-rated liberal arts college with only 400 students in each class.
Although she has strong affiliations with Ivy League institutions, it is not hard to imagine her strong attraction to Kenyon which sits on 1200 acres and where "it is hard to tell where the Kenyon College campus ends and where the small downtown begins."
She referenced a recent survey in which 71% of those polled indicated that civility is on the decline and 51% felt that civility continues to decline.
She first discussed the meaning of civility (Latin civis, "citizen") in Greece of the 5th century; It was in the nature of Greeks to live in the city. Socrates was perhaps the foremost philosopher of the era.
The Death of Socrates by Jacques Louis David, 1787
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
.
The questions he posed to the youth of Athens in the agora concerned how to live the virtuous(arete in Greek) life; in other words, how can one achieve one's potential? He asked them questions such as what is justice, what is the best form of government and what is the best life.
The unexamined life is not worth living exclaimed Socrates as he refused to bow to the authorities and admit he was corrupting their youth. He drank hemlock and perished giving up his life in defense of his core principles.
True civility is not a live- and let- live proposition; it is not taking a whatever attitude and walk away.
True civility is confrontational. (more on this in Part II of this subject)
Socrates' student Plato catalogued his mentor's teaching in his Apologia.
Aristotle, Plato's student studied civility from the point of view of the polis (Greek for "city"). His motto was that "man is a political animal."
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Our founding fathers Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton- all studied the classical writers and foremost in their minds in establishing our republic was writing a constitution of laws that would promote civility. It is important to keep in mind that their education was in institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton which were primarily divinity schools.
Implicit in their thinking was that only citizens living a life inspired by biblical and classical precepts would possess the necessary preparation and skills to form a government and then enter public office to lead the republic.
Ms Nugent then linked the modern day liberal arts education to the classic teaching of Greek and Roman philosophers and the political philosophy of our founding fathers.
She concluded her talk by doing some myth-busting.
1. A liberal arts education is only for the elite since terribly expensive. In fact 40% of liberal arts students come from lower income households. There is substantial financial aid and the net cost is the same as that of public schools. 28% liberal arts majors graduate without any debt .
2. The liberal arts education is impractical: Included in the curricula are courses geared for the new digital age: courses in programming, web design, city planning, digital photography, online newspapers and magazines, bridge engineering, etc.
Kudos to Dr. Nugent for an excellent presentation.
P. S. There are still some major unanswered questions that I will simply pose now; but know, dear reader, they must be dealt because the very survival of our global community depends on our duty, as Americans, to know in depth the history of other civilizations, especially the avowed strength and power of China.
For instance, a major issue is whether the liberal arts education in a small private college setting will be more conducive to a rational civil non-polarizing discourse between opposing parties than a similar program on the stage of a public university.
A second issue is whether Dr. Nugent can team up with another speaker we heard in Stamford's Civility in American series-- ex-Senator Olympia Snow of Maine. (As you might remember from my prior blog, that amidst congressional gridlock, she abruptly quit her reelection campaign to focus on solving the near stalemate intransigent polarization that has beleaguered Congress)
And finally, why should NOT two other major global forces- the Islamic and Chinese cultures (including each one's history, major influential writings, art and music ) be included in the so-called Core Course curriculum (click here for background) introduced by Columbia College nearly 100 years ago?
Have they not proven that they merit serious study--in light of major turbulences of the first 13 years of the 21st century-- and discussion alongside traditional Western Civilization courses?
So stay tuned.....
She referenced a recent survey in which 71% of those polled indicated that civility is on the decline and 51% felt that civility continues to decline.
She first discussed the meaning of civility (Latin civis, "citizen") in Greece of the 5th century; It was in the nature of Greeks to live in the city. Socrates was perhaps the foremost philosopher of the era.
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
.
The unexamined life is not worth living exclaimed Socrates as he refused to bow to the authorities and admit he was corrupting their youth. He drank hemlock and perished giving up his life in defense of his core principles.
True civility is not a live- and let- live proposition; it is not taking a whatever attitude and walk away.
True civility is confrontational. (more on this in Part II of this subject)
Plato from School of Athens by Raphael (1509)
The Raphael Rooms in the Vatican
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
President John Adams, the second leader of our country
courtesy of Wikipedia
Implicit in their thinking was that only citizens living a life inspired by biblical and classical precepts would possess the necessary preparation and skills to form a government and then enter public office to lead the republic.
Ms Nugent then linked the modern day liberal arts education to the classic teaching of Greek and Roman philosophers and the political philosophy of our founding fathers.
She concluded her talk by doing some myth-busting.
1. A liberal arts education is only for the elite since terribly expensive. In fact 40% of liberal arts students come from lower income households. There is substantial financial aid and the net cost is the same as that of public schools. 28% liberal arts majors graduate without any debt .
2. The liberal arts education is impractical: Included in the curricula are courses geared for the new digital age: courses in programming, web design, city planning, digital photography, online newspapers and magazines, bridge engineering, etc.
Governor Marion Cuomo of New York
speaking at a rally in 1991
photo courtesy of wikipedia
3.The graduates of liberal arts schools are unemployable. Mario Cuomo former governor of New York State was an English major at St. John's College, Barbara Walters was an English major at Sarah Lawrence College, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was an English Major at Holy Cross University and film director Steven Spielberg was an English major at California State University at Long Beach.
Kudos to Dr. Nugent for an excellent presentation.
P. S. There are still some major unanswered questions that I will simply pose now; but know, dear reader, they must be dealt because the very survival of our global community depends on our duty, as Americans, to know in depth the history of other civilizations, especially the avowed strength and power of China.
For instance, a major issue is whether the liberal arts education in a small private college setting will be more conducive to a rational civil non-polarizing discourse between opposing parties than a similar program on the stage of a public university.
A second issue is whether Dr. Nugent can team up with another speaker we heard in Stamford's Civility in American series-- ex-Senator Olympia Snow of Maine. (As you might remember from my prior blog, that amidst congressional gridlock, she abruptly quit her reelection campaign to focus on solving the near stalemate intransigent polarization that has beleaguered Congress)
And finally, why should NOT two other major global forces- the Islamic and Chinese cultures (including each one's history, major influential writings, art and music ) be included in the so-called Core Course curriculum (click here for background) introduced by Columbia College nearly 100 years ago?
Have they not proven that they merit serious study--in light of major turbulences of the first 13 years of the 21st century-- and discussion alongside traditional Western Civilization courses?
So stay tuned.....
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