Reforming the University: Larry Arnn at ISI’s American Politics Summit — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Hello, I'm Daniel McCarthy, vice
- 0:02president for the collegiate network at
- 0:03ISI and also the editor of Modern Age.
- 0:06Joining me tonight is the great and
- 0:08estimable Larry Arm, who is the
- 0:10president of Hillsdale College, which of
- 0:12course uh is the uh college which is
- 0:15responsible for the formation of ISI's
- 0:16own president, Johnny Burka. So that by
- 0:19itself would be a great claim to fame.
- 0:20So welcome Dr. Arin. Yeah, thank you.
- 0:23Very good to be with you. So, Hillsdale
- 0:25College is in a category of its own and
- 0:27it has gone from strength to strength
- 0:29under your leadership. I was curious
- 0:31though, what prospects do you see for
- 0:32the rest of American higher education?
- 0:34Can it be redeemed? Can it be restored?
- 0:37Of course, it can be redeemed and
- 0:38restored. A college colleges are two and
- 0:42a half millennia old. The need for them
- 0:45won't go away. It's very hard to fix
- 0:47them and it'll take a long time. Uh the
- 0:49reason is uh the one big sticky point is
- 0:55uh graduate degrees is what you need to
- 0:58teach in a college and the graduate
- 1:00schools are a mess. So the quantity like
- 1:03if you could pass a law that all the
- 1:06colleges need to be decent tomorrow
- 1:09there wouldn't be anybody who knew what
- 1:10that meant to teach and there were not
- 1:11enough people. But yeah there's there
- 1:14exciting things happening in K12. Uh my
- 1:17own view about what the government
- 1:18should do is decentralize it. Uh there's
- 1:20too much control in the middle. That's
- 1:24especially wrong in education because
- 1:27learning happens in classrooms. You
- 1:28should have authority and resources near
- 1:30them. And if you do that, there'll be uh
- 1:34certainly K12 there could be a
- 1:36revolution pretty soon. But uh in higher
- 1:40ed, there will be a steady improvement I
- 1:42think. So you've already half
- 1:44anticipated my next question. And so
- 1:46Hillsdale is rather unusual. There's
- 1:47Hillsdale, Grove City, a handful of
- 1:49others perhaps in taking no federal
- 1:51funds whatsoever. And so I was curious,
- 1:53is there a role for the federal
- 1:54government, especially now that there
- 1:56may be a better administration coming
- 1:58in? Is there a role for the federal
- 2:00government in restoring higher education
- 2:01in America? Yeah. Well, there there is
- 2:04because uh first of all, the Department
- 2:05of Education is there and they're not
- 2:07likely to get rid of it. Uh it could be
- 2:10a force for this decentralization that
- 2:12I've spoke of. Uh it should encourage
- 2:15states, you know, the way the federal
- 2:17government works is what there are close
- 2:20to three million federal employees and
- 2:23close to 20 million state employees and
- 2:26through its spending power, the federal
- 2:28government tells them what to do a lot.
- 2:31Well, what if there was uh encouragement
- 2:34to states to start charter schools and
- 2:38private vouchers and stuff like that?
- 2:40That would be very healthy. And in
- 2:43higher ed uh you know they they're
- 2:46starting these centers. Some states are
- 2:49starting centers where they teach
- 2:52sanity. There's some good ones few and
- 2:56uh there should be more of that. So a
- 2:58couple of our founding fathers I think
- 2:59maybe Jefferson and Madison um thought
- 3:02about the idea of a national university
- 3:04sponsored by the federal government.
- 3:05Would that be a good idea? Uh no no. Uh
- 3:09well it's I have written about that.
- 3:11That's a very interesting thing. I sort
- 3:14of modeled a graduate school that we
- 3:16have at Hillsdale on that idea. Uh and
- 3:19they had a curriculum for it and you
- 3:21know the beginnings of one and they had
- 3:23some really neat neat ideas and George
- 3:26Washington left his largest bequest
- 3:29outside his family to support that
- 3:32thing. And then George Washington and
- 3:34and uh Thomas Jefferson and James
- 3:38Madison and James Monroe all tried to do
- 3:42it and they didn't get it done. Uh as a
- 3:45matter of fact, James Madison was
- 3:47instructed by the chairman of a
- 3:49committee by by the name of Mi Mitchell.
- 3:51I remember from Kentucky that no
- 3:54President Madison, you can't do this.
- 3:57The Constitution that you wrote does not
- 3:59permit it.
- 4:02I've always thought that was funny. But
- 4:04they they had the idea that uh at the
- 4:07top
- 4:08level there's some stuff you need to
- 4:11know to be a statesman in America and we
- 4:13should have a place where you learn that
- 4:15and uh that is that is a very good idea.
- 4:18I'm interested to know about the
- 4:20response of Hillsdale's peers or at
- 4:22least competitors to your success. Do
- 4:25you find that uh other colleges and
- 4:27universities are starting to emulate
- 4:28what Hillsdale does or do you see that
- 4:30they are more uh perhaps opposed to you,
- 4:32critical or or do they just ignore
- 4:35Hillsdale? All three.
- 4:38Um we don't really
- 4:41have I a lot of our kids go to uh
- 4:44graduate and go to top graduate schools
- 4:47in Ivy League and other places and
- 4:49professional schools and medical schools
- 4:51and they seem friendly to them. Uh and
- 4:54then
- 4:56uh you know colleges it's it's not the
- 4:59custom in our world to beat each other
- 5:02up institutionally a lot. I may have
- 5:05been more guilty of it than anybody. Uh
- 5:08and then there are a procession of
- 5:10people who come through Hillsdale
- 5:11College saying how do you do this? And I
- 5:14got a letter this morning from somebody
- 5:16and they want to come and visit
- 5:18and te talk to us. What do you do? And
- 5:22uh yeah and the private college world is
- 5:25very troubled now lot you know their
- 5:28bankruptcies and uh going to be more I
- 5:32think and so a lot of them are very fine
- 5:35people and they're trying to figure out
- 5:36how to save themselves. Do they consult
- 5:39with you often on how they can do that?
- 5:41Yeah, it's uh yeah, like you know,
- 5:45several times a year we get deputations
- 5:47from this place or that and we're in an
- 5:50athletic conference and uh I helped to
- 5:54form it with some others and they're all
- 5:57good people, private Christian colleges,
- 6:00and some of them are in trouble and I
- 6:03have reason to talk with them regularly
- 6:05and it's, you know, it's a tall order.
- 6:09it uh
- 6:11the the a private college gets a
- 6:16substantial percentage of its money from
- 6:19the government. Mhm. And the government
- 6:21brings rules, hundreds of pages of rules
- 6:24and uh they require that you arrange
- 6:28your staff in certain ways so that you
- 6:30have people who are you're paying them
- 6:32but they're really working for them. And
- 6:35so that's awkward and it I've never
- 6:38worked in that situation in my life, but
- 6:41I imagine it complicates the management
- 6:43of a place quite a bit.
- 6:45Uh and you know it it changes
- 6:50uh there there are lots of colleges that
- 6:52get 80 or 90% of their total revenues
- 6:54from student tuition, room and board.
- 6:57And a lot of those places half to 70% of
- 7:00that actually is coming from the
- 7:02government. Mhm. And so that means that
- 7:05you and they're trying to make budget
- 7:07and if they could just get 40 more kids.
- 7:11I hear that that particular number comes
- 7:13up if we we we need 40 more kids and we
- 7:17can balance our budget and that means
- 7:19that then you're looking at the kids as
- 7:22a revenue stream and it changes your
- 7:25relation to them. I think and I in some
- 7:27cases I've seen it where you're
- 7:30reluctant to flunk them out or make it
- 7:34difficult and that's a that's a terrible
- 7:38thing. It means that there's a
- 7:40misalignment here that's serious and I
- 7:44think the government has a lot to do
- 7:45with that. There's a striking difference
- 7:47between on the one hand these
- 7:49institutions that take federal money and
- 7:51therefore are subject to many more
- 7:54federal restrictions uh including uh DEI
- 7:57requirements and any number of other um
- 7:59uh supposedly civil rights requirements.
- 8:01Uh on the one hand you have that
- 8:03situation but Hillsdale which is a
- 8:05totally free institution. It does not
- 8:07depend on federal money. It has a in
- 8:09fact much better um history of civil
- 8:13liberties and civil rights. uh civil
- 8:15rights in particular. Um it's it's
- 8:17always been a u a free campus. It's
- 8:20always been a campus which has been
- 8:21colorblind and um tell us a little bit
- 8:23about that history. Well, I've only had
- 8:26one job in a college in my life and I uh
- 8:29took the
- 8:30job because I found out about that. I uh
- 8:34I I admired Abraham Lincoln very much
- 8:38and there were several people at our
- 8:40college who got to know him and were
- 8:43important in his cause. We were an
- 8:45abolitionist college. The platform that
- 8:48Abraham Lincoln was elected president
- 8:50on, the first draft of it was written in
- 8:52a building that stands on our campus
- 8:54today. And we had more young men fight
- 8:57in the Civil War than any non-military
- 9:00college excepting Yale. And you know,
- 9:03compare it to the University of
- 9:04Michigan, which a little older than we
- 9:06are and was bigger at the time. They had
- 9:09under a hundred and we had more than
- 9:11500. Wow. All the boys went and that was
- 9:14and you know, we didn't it's never been
- 9:16a military college. We still have a lot
- 9:18of military service coming out of our
- 9:21place. And they just uh loved freedom
- 9:24and they loved their country and they
- 9:27had an education and they rallied to the
- 9:30cause. And when I learned that I and
- 9:32then I read the founding document of the
- 9:33college which was written in 1844 and is
- 9:36a very beautiful document and I thought
- 9:38to myself, huh, maybe there's a way to
- 9:41run that kind of railroad. So there's a
- 9:44prominent statue of Frederick Douglas on
- 9:46campus and I know that Douglas has a
- 9:48connection with Hillsdale, doesn't he?
- 9:50Spoke on the campus twice. Uh, first
- 9:53time in 1863, the second time after the
- 9:55war.
- 9:57uh in
- 10:001863 if uh he he had to be careful where
- 10:04he went because he was an annoyance to
- 10:07the Confederacy and they had people
- 10:09looking for him to kidnap him and take
- 10:11him back into slavery and that was a big
- 10:13trade in those days. And uh when I got
- 10:17to the college I knew about that. I
- 10:19admire Frederick Le very much. And I
- 10:22said to the college historian, I said,
- 10:24"Uh, we need a copy of his speech that
- 10:28he gave on the campus." And he says, "It
- 10:31doesn't exist." And I said, "Bound to
- 10:34you looked hard enough." You know, I
- 10:36worked for Martin Gilbert doing the
- 10:38church biography. If you haven't found
- 10:40it, it means you haven't looked hard
- 10:41enough. And about six months later, he
- 10:44showed up with it. He did find it. It's
- 10:46called Truth and Error and it's about
- 10:48slavery. It's a lovely speech. He was a
- 10:51very interesting man. So, America has a
- 10:54birthday coming up in 2026. We will be
- 10:56celebrating the 250th anniversary of the
- 10:59Declaration of Independence, uh the War
- 11:01of Independence and the American
- 11:02Founding. Uh you wrote a book about a
- 11:04dozen years ago called The Founders Key.
- 11:06And I'm curious what you'd like to see
- 11:08emphasized, especially in terms of the
- 11:11history and the philosophy of the
- 11:12American founding in these birthday
- 11:14celebrations two years from now. Well, I
- 11:16think uh the celebration is probably
- 11:18going to be fullthroatated now because
- 11:19there's been a recent election. I think
- 11:22it would not have been before that. Uh I
- 11:25think uh people people need to read it.
- 11:28It's very beautiful. uh it is the final
- 11:31cause to use
- 11:34that classic logical term of the United
- 11:37States. is the reason it exists and it
- 11:41also describes inside itself the formal
- 11:44cause which comes later the the
- 11:48constitution they lay out uh in the
- 11:52declaration of independence in their
- 11:54criticisms of the king what would be the
- 11:57main features of a proper constitution
- 11:59and they are separation of powers and
- 12:01consent of the govern representation
- 12:04uh and and you know the constitution is
- 12:07described in that very beautiful
- 12:09document and of course the beginning and
- 12:11the end of it are uh written in the most
- 12:15lovely timeless language.
- 12:18Uh it's about eternal things and the
- 12:22things we will do here now to serve them
- 12:26and our freedom. I wanted to ask you
- 12:29about your own intellectual trajectory.
- 12:31So you're originally from Arkansas. I'm
- 12:32originally from Missouri myself. I'm
- 12:34curious uh what was it like growing up
- 12:36in Arkansas and what led you onto the
- 12:38path that has ultimately uh ended in or
- 12:41you know issued in uh being the
- 12:42president of Hillsdale College and
- 12:44leading Hillsdale College from strength
- 12:45to strength. Well, people from Arkansas
- 12:47are proud of it and they're right to be.
- 12:50I I'm a big admirer of the current
- 12:52governor of Arkansas, Sarah Sanders, and
- 12:55she talked I'm older than she is, but
- 12:57she talked to me like my mother did. I
- 12:59went to her office not long ago and she
- 13:01said, "I was wondering when you were
- 13:03going to show up here." Uh, Arkansas's,
- 13:06you know, I grew up in Pocahontas,
- 13:07Arkansas, and that's just idealic. It
- 13:10uh, you know, we we had a river, we were
- 13:13on it a lot, we had hills, we climbed
- 13:17them, uh, we shot rats in the city dump.
- 13:21So, tremendous. Best hunting I ever did.
- 13:23And,
- 13:24uh, uh, so it's it was like that. And
- 13:28then uh we had a grammar teacher and two
- 13:32math teachers in my school and they were
- 13:36awesome. Uh I can diagram an English
- 13:39sentence and uh cuz I had to stand and
- 13:42do it on the board and uh so that was
- 13:45great. I enjoyed that very much. And
- 13:48uh later I learned what learning really
- 13:51is. Uh that happened in undergraduate
- 13:54school. I try to get out of it. But
- 13:57there was a mandatory course in
- 13:59political thought and it was taught by a
- 14:02great man who's who's friend of mine
- 14:05today. Uh and we read Plato's Republic
- 14:09and I sort of saw for the first
- 14:12time what would be the most important
- 14:15things to know and it changed a lot of
- 14:18things about me. Didn't go to law
- 14:20school. uh almost almost did uh always
- 14:24wanted to when I was a boy and I just
- 14:27thought I have to find out more about
- 14:29this and uh that's indirectly he want
- 14:32you and I know each other you are a
- 14:34student of the great Harry Jaffa and I
- 14:37was curious how did you first learn
- 14:38about Jaffa and decide that you wanted
- 14:40to take his classes well this man who
- 14:42was my teacher in undergraduate school
- 14:44his name is Jeffrey Wallen he was a
- 14:46student of professor Jeff and uh I
- 14:50followed went back to his office. Uh, I
- 14:53was actually, you know, I was like most
- 14:56young men, cocky and unreasonable and
- 15:00thought I knew everything. And it took
- 15:02about 3 weeks of him wiping the floor
- 15:04with me and reading a beautiful passage
- 15:06in book one of of the
- 15:10republic and I had a revelation and I
- 15:13followed him back to his office and
- 15:14said, "I need to know more about this."
- 15:17And he said, "Well, you have another
- 15:18semester." I said, 'I wonder if it'll
- 15:21take longer than that. And he said,
- 15:25uh, it will. He said, 'You'll have to
- 15:28keep it up. And I said,
- 15:31uh, I might go to graduate school. Is
- 15:34that where you learned this? And he
- 15:36said, you're going to law school.
- 15:38Everybody knows that. I was in some
- 15:40fancy ones. And, uh, I said, well,
- 15:44maybe. And I sort of had to talk him
- 15:47into it. You know, there's a thing I
- 15:49understand it better now. Uh he did we
- 15:53didn't know each other very well. We do
- 15:55now. And uh a professor might be
- 15:59embarrassed to send a student to his
- 16:02teacher cuz what if the kid's useless?
- 16:05Uh and so at first he I I recall he was
- 16:09a little reluctant. He tried to get me
- 16:12to consider other options. Uh, and uh, I
- 16:17kept saying, "Is this the best?" And
- 16:20he'd say, "Well, yes." And I'd say, "And
- 16:22that particular man was a very great
- 16:25teacher."
- 16:27Uh, and but this one's good. And I'd
- 16:30say, "Well, I'd want to go to the best
- 16:32one." I was too cocky, you know. He
- 16:34said, "What if you don't get in?" I
- 16:35said, "I will." And I did. And, uh,
- 16:38that's how all that happened. I uh he
- 16:40he's he lives in uh outside DC now. Uh
- 16:45he's not a teacher anymore and I'd like
- 16:48to say he inherited some money and went
- 16:50to seed because his his uh he's a very
- 16:53good man but and a friend but his uh
- 16:59uh his calling was to be a teacher. He
- 17:02is splendid teacher and he's done some
- 17:05teaching for Hillsdale College. But uh
- 17:09yeah, you know those people like that I
- 17:11mean you have them too right isi that's
- 17:14part of what it's about. Uh you know do
- 17:19a very good job teaching some lovely
- 17:22things and see who perks up and notices
- 17:26and uh so that was a benefit that came
- 17:28to me and I'm grateful for it. Did you
- 17:31find that it was uh stressful taking
- 17:32classes with Harry Jaffa? Could he be
- 17:34very forceful in in class? And was it uh
- 17:37were students afraid to challenge him or
- 17:38question him? No, he wasn't like that at
- 17:41all. He was a he he actually he was a
- 17:43very belligerent man.
- 17:45Um he uh was not uh with the students is
- 17:51a way. He was a
- 17:54uh he was an interesting man. He he uh
- 17:58was, you know, he fought with all kinds
- 17:59of people, including many conservatives,
- 18:02and he was fierce in those fights. Uh
- 18:05with us, what he was like was the
- 18:08challenge was to get him to
- 18:11explain cuz uh one of my theories cuz I
- 18:14I was around him
- 18:16for how long? 1974 until 2000 when I
- 18:20came to the college. Uh and he died
- 18:24sometime after 2000. So I had to do with
- 18:26him after that. But I was around him a
- 18:28lot for 26 years. And uh the challen I I
- 18:34think he was uh when he became excited
- 18:37when he became interested deeply
- 18:39interested and when he was dealing with
- 18:42the central things he was as good a
- 18:44lecturer as I ever saw. Uh he was not a
- 18:49systematic organized get through the
- 18:52material kind of teacher. And so you had
- 18:55to
- 18:57uh you had to work him, had to be
- 19:01pouncing, answering questions, and
- 19:04sometimes he wouldn't answer. And if you
- 19:06kept at it, you would get your answer.
- 19:09Uh I rode a
- 19:10bicycle probably 20,000 miles because he
- 19:13was a bicycle racer. And uh and so I
- 19:18thought, I'm going to learn everything
- 19:19this guy's got to teach. So, I took it
- 19:22up and I rode bicycles for a long time.
- 19:24I raced them a little. I was just like I
- 19:26was at a high school athlete. I was good
- 19:29enough to do it, loved to do it, not
- 19:31good enough to really, you know, really
- 19:33do it. And uh so yeah he he he was uh
- 19:37and you know he I remember a class one
- 19:41time this happened would happen several
- 19:44times something would come like he liked
- 19:49uh liberal students to attack him and he
- 19:54was very good at that and he was gentle
- 19:56with them but uh but he was profound and
- 20:01so once he got going and the class was
- 20:04supposed to be over at
- 20:064:30 and it was over at 6:00 and nobody
- 20:11noticed and uh came out and it was dark
- 20:15and he
- 20:16uh explained what it is that a human
- 20:19being can do that a dog cannot and it's
- 20:23you know I can give that explanation
- 20:24today but I heard him do it more than
- 20:26once but that was one of his best things
- 20:28uh and like he he's you know as you know
- 20:32masterful teacher
- 20:35uh the fundamentals are so well known to
- 20:39them that they can apply them and
- 20:42simplify them and uh that's magical when
- 20:46you get to hear that and great teachers
- 20:48we have several at Hills we have many at
- 20:50Hillsdale College who can do that and
- 20:52the kids follow them around like puppy
- 20:55dogs hoping they'll say something and uh
- 20:59yeah so Professor Jaffa was like that
- 21:01you also worked very closely with Sir
- 21:03Martin Gilbert and uh completed the uh
- 21:06Churchill u biography and uh worked on
- 21:09the documents um including six volumes
- 21:11of them as I as if I recall correctly.
- 21:14Um I'm curious what lessons do you think
- 21:16today's leaders and perhaps in
- 21:17particular uh the newly elected
- 21:19president should take from the example
- 21:21of Winston Churchill?
- 21:23Uh well he's
- 21:25uh Donald Trump has the root of the
- 21:27matter in him as regards Churchill. Uh
- 21:31what I would say to uh anybody is if you
- 21:35want to cultivate prudence, Aristotle
- 21:38says you can learn that best from the
- 21:40people who have the reputation for it.
- 21:43And and then he names Pericles as the
- 21:45best
- 21:46example. Uh you should read Winston
- 21:49Churchill. He wrote over 40 books. He
- 21:52wrote 8,000 pages of speeches himself,
- 21:55over a thousand published articles. and
- 21:59they are riveting and they are a
- 22:00reservoir of political wisdom. Uh the
- 22:04big things in Churchill's life uh
- 22:06Churchill's life is tragic as well as
- 22:10glorious as all political lives are by
- 22:12the way. When he was a young man he set
- 22:16out to prevent socialism and big
- 22:19wars and it was his fate to be unable he
- 22:22did try to prevent both world wars. uh
- 22:26it was his fate to lead effectively and
- 22:31to
- 22:32disastrous diminishment of his country
- 22:35just better than being beat by the
- 22:37Nazis. Uh and then socialism followed
- 22:41but he warned about it in beautiful
- 22:43language all the time. And uh that's one
- 22:46thing we t
- 22:49uh Republican statesmen who like Winston
- 22:54Churchill don't understand that thing
- 22:56about caution about war and Donald Trump
- 23:01does. Also a big thing with Churchill
- 23:04was uh he he thought the British people
- 23:08were the right ones because they had a
- 23:11right to decide the fate of the nation.
- 23:15and he thought they'd probably do a
- 23:17better job than anybody else. And so he
- 23:19was an explainer. He uh uh sometimes
- 23:24politicians, I think of two recent
- 23:27presidents,
- 23:28uh they become imperative with the
- 23:32American people. They wag their figure
- 23:34finger and tell you how it's going to
- 23:36be, how you ought to be, right?
- 23:38Churchill was not given to that. uh he
- 23:42it's generous to explain to put the
- 23:46argument together so that people can
- 23:48follow it right and that's a that's an
- 23:51art that's first of all it's not easy
- 23:55but Churchill cultivated that art he
- 23:57worked at it and uh you know he he got
- 24:01into a place
- 24:04where he was the one to lead in the
- 24:07worst crisis in British history and he
- 24:10got him through it and that's because of
- 24:13his nature and his character and the way
- 24:14he built it. So in addition to leading
- 24:16Hillsdale College, you also teach and
- 24:19I'm curious when you're teaching
- 24:20Aristotle for example, um are you making
- 24:22new discoveries each time you do so or
- 24:24are you finding new angles on the
- 24:26material? They you know uh a classroom
- 24:29uh nothing in education by the way is
- 24:32something that one person does to
- 24:34somebody else. It won't work. uh what
- 24:38you know is irrelevant unless they are
- 24:42focused with their whole being on the
- 24:44thing. And we're blessed at Hillsdale
- 24:47College. The kids are smart and very
- 24:48beautiful. It's hard to get in. You got
- 24:50to sign the honor
- 24:51code. And so now you're with a bunch of
- 24:55fellow human beings reading this thing
- 24:58with attention and what everybody says
- 25:01is meaningful, even if it's wrong. and
- 25:04uh and you never uh I never teach
- 25:08anything that uh I don't see it aresh
- 25:13and better and sometimes significant
- 25:16points uh it's been revealed to me I can
- 25:19remember 400 years ago professor Jaffa I
- 25:23was learning Greek which I've mostly
- 25:24forgotten now to my shrin but I knew
- 25:27knew it a bit and there's a word in
- 25:30Greek cray and
- 25:32uh
- 25:34uh he he translated the word as good
- 25:39and I said doesn't that mean necessary
- 25:42it's just a vocabulary thing right he
- 25:45said oh that's a brilliant insight now I
- 25:49didn't know why it was at the time but I
- 25:52I thought about it a long time and I see
- 25:54the good is also the necessary and uh so
- 25:58yeah things like that happen in you know
- 26:00every it's uh
- 26:02I I teach uh all afternoon Mondays
- 26:05makeup classes on Friday because I have
- 26:07to do it in one sitting because I have
- 26:09this job and uh uh the time flies and uh
- 26:17if they yawn I don't like it and I give
- 26:19them coffee and cookies or else I throw
- 26:21something at them. But they seldom do
- 26:24and uh it's cuz it's exciting, it's fun.
- 26:28Do the students uh change over time? Do
- 26:30you find that uh generation Z is
- 26:32different from earlier generations or is
- 26:34there a uh kind of human nature that
- 26:37comes through in all students that is
- 26:38always the latter very much. Uh we you
- 26:42know we notice little differences. Um
- 26:46but
- 26:47uh any successful class is an
- 26:51achievement of everyone in it. And so
- 26:54when you produce that with them, it's
- 26:58always the same. You know, they think I
- 27:01I I once made a mistake. Uh we have a
- 27:05constitution course and we read some
- 27:06John
- 27:07Calhoun and I on my syllabus I made a
- 27:10mistake and I assigned the entire
- 27:13disposition on government to them. That
- 27:15was really stupid. and darned if they
- 27:18didn't read it. And I figured that out
- 27:20and I apologized to him and I said,
- 27:22"Okay, we're going to spend a week on
- 27:24this." And in the course of that week
- 27:27there, this particular classroom has
- 27:30four going around the room boards to
- 27:33write
- 27:34on. And we filled up the whole all the
- 27:37boards with an account of John C.
- 27:41Calhoun and the disc was his own
- 27:43government.
- 27:44And we when we did it and we we all took
- 27:48great and you know everybody helped you
- 27:50know what does this mean what does that
- 27:51mean you know what's is this important
- 27:53is that important you know and at the
- 27:56end we took great gain momentum and you
- 28:00know I don't even like John Calhoun by
- 28:02the way although I think he's formidable
- 28:04and uh and
- 28:05interesting and and I remember when the
- 28:08class ended on a Friday uh uh so we
- 28:14equivalent of two weeks, right? Because
- 28:15I teach whole weeks in one sitting and I
- 28:18did an extra class on a Friday. And we
- 28:22had it all up there and uh and we sat in
- 28:26silence for a
- 28:28minute. I said,
- 28:31"Okay, have we got that?" And three or
- 28:34four of them said, "That's really good."
- 28:38See, we did that together. And it starts
- 28:40with a mistake by me. Uh it's good for
- 28:43me to do it too cuz I read that book
- 28:46with better attention than I ever had.
- 28:49Calhoun writes
- 28:51uh
- 28:53uh paraphrase, it would be impestous to
- 28:56think that God would give us the gift of
- 28:59natural science and permit us to use it
- 29:02for ill. Now I think that's a
- 29:06misunderstanding of God and the
- 29:08universe. And I discovered that sense
- 29:11and saw its importance because we went
- 29:13through all that. Wonderful. So, uh I
- 29:16know you have a long background with
- 29:18ISI. I think you were a Richard Weaver
- 29:20fellow. Um what does ISI mean to you
- 29:22especially today in the 21st century?
- 29:24Well, I eyesize of course run by my kid
- 29:26Johnny and uh he's doing a good job and
- 29:31uh it is a it's a splendid idea. Uh and
- 29:37it helped me go to graduate school. I
- 29:39serve on its board. Uh I'm too busy to
- 29:43serve on board so I serve on the ones
- 29:45where I have to and this is one of them.
- 29:48And uh first Chris Long and then Thomas
- 29:51Lynch who's now the chairman of the
- 29:52board. They both said to me, "You have
- 29:54to do this. We gave you money in
- 29:56graduate school." So, I'm conscripted.
- 29:58But I find it rewarding. And its idea,
- 30:01one of its ideas is, cuz see, I I I very
- 30:05much believe this, by the
- 30:09way, you can't teach everybody
- 30:12everything. And you can't teach
- 30:14everybody to the same depth. But if you
- 30:17find the right people
- 30:20uh and help them learn because you don't
- 30:23really teach them either they learn you
- 30:25help
- 30:26them then they will reach many people
- 30:30and uh so that's the idea behind ISI and
- 30:33it's a good idea. Great. Well thank you
- 30:35very much Dr. on. I very much enjoyed
- 30:37this.
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