The Moral Collapse on Campus Is a Result of the Hollowing Out of the Humanities
Mending a civic and intellectual catastrophe.
Who needs any more proof of the awful decay of higher education in America than the unveiling of its effectual truth, would-be pogroms in Morningside Heights and on campuses from coast to coast? More common, though perhaps not less unsettling, is the characteristic boredom and confusion of the recipients of the great privilege of the baccalaureate in America. This boredom is as important to explaining the successful revival of violent anti-Semitism as is the ideological indoctrination that more directly causes it.
The moral decay of education has two conjoined parts: the elimination of higher civic education and the total subversion of liberal education. Young men and women trained, at best, for productivity have not been prepared for freedom and cannot distinguish between the politics of the gutter and the fortitude required of the highest duties. They enter their careers with technical skill but without memory, judgment, reverence, or real wonder.
A generation of students emerges from our most prestigious institutions able to code or to critique, but not to speak coherently about justice, law, liberty, or the human good. The result is a civic catastrophe. Fewer than one in five Americans can name the three branches of government. Even fewer can explain the principles of the Declaration of Independence or the architecture of the Constitution. This is not merely a civic failure. It is a failure of education at its very core.
Pursuit of Happiness
The Rise of Latino America
In The Rise of Latino America, Hernandez & Kotkin argue that Latinos, who are projected to become America’s largest ethnic group, are a dynamic force shaping the nation’s demographic, economic, and cultural future. Far from being a marginalized group defined by oppression, Latinos are integral to America’s story. They drive economic growth, cultural evolution, and workforce vitality. Challenges, however, including poverty, educational disparities, and restrictive policies, threaten their upward mobility. Policymakers who wish to harness Latino potential to ensure national prosperity and resilience should adopt policies that prioritize affordability, safety, and economic opportunity over ideological constraints.
Richard Epstein on Roman Law and Sociobiology
How and why Roman law worked, how it eventually fell apart, and sociobiology as a way to explain the foundations and limits of legal norms.
Welcome to the Manosphere
What counter-programming might resonate, reaching young men with the message that unhealthy conspiracism and cartoonish machismo need not be a part of a healthy striver mentality?
Celebrating Passover in Communist Exile
When we children found out the name of our feast, we had already crossed the big sea, eaten lots of bread dipped in sour milk, and the bitter herbs were beginning to taste quite sweet.
