hesiod and “good strife” i · hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom...

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cademy A ane L Vol. 4, No. 1  • Fall 2005 I n the eighth century B.C., two Greek brothers argued over their deceased father’s estate. Hesiod, who sought an equal division of the wealth, lost most of his share to Perses, whose victory was secured by “bribe-swallowing lords.” at their story is as modern as it is ancient offers a reminder that human nature has not changed over the past 2,700 years. Magistrates can still be bribed while families still go to court over the estates of their departed relatives. And yet, as is possible in all conflict, Hesiod did not allow the situation to unfold without a lesson learned. Hesiod warned Perses against the “bad Strife” who “fosters evil war and battle, being cruel.” is Strife, he argued, “delights in mischief” and holds the heart “back from work.” He cautioned his brother to prefer “good Strife” who is “far kinder to men.” is “good Strife” provides men with aspirations and ambitions that lead to true confidence and success. It builds up rather than tears down. Hesiod writes, She stirs up even the lazy to work; for a man grows eager to work  when he considers his neighbor, a rich man who hastens to plough  and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbor vies with  his neighbor as he hurries after wealth. is strife is wholesome for  men. (Works and Days, 20-24) I think of Hesiod’s advice when talking with people much older than myself. Quite often these friends will describe the great struggles of life; struggles full of good strife—full of good work, full of sweat and even tears. More than playtime or vacations or easy gain, it was the difficult job well done, the strenuous triumph in athletic competition or the sacrifice made for the sake of good and of family that lie most central to their strongest and best memories. Hesiod criticized his brother for seeking easy and immoral gain. Perses took the route that brought ill-got wealth and “bad Strife.” His greed would forever haunt their family. Hesiod pleaded with his brother saying, “You shall have no second chance to deal so again: no, let us settle our dispute here with true judgment.” I wonder what guilty thoughts plagued Perses’s mind as he faced his last days on earth. As we now know, millennia past, his legacy was not one in which he could take pride. Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). ose who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics, learn that leisure and ease are the benefits of hard work, of good strife. ese benefits do not come easily. Healthy competition and good strife produce an entrepreneurial spirit that not only raises the quality of life for the individual and his family, but for the community as well. Good strife fosters courage, competition and the best kind of success rather than causing division through bad strife, by gaining wealth from others through the courts, through laziness or through the coercion of the state via welfare. In school, this means that good, hard work and competition produce students ready to strive for the right kind of goals rather than for the opportunity to rob from others. We would do well to follow Hesiod’s advice to Perses and “lay up these things” in our hearts. Dr. Ken Calvert Headmaster’s Corner Hesiod and “Good Strife” F eatures Faculty Highlights  2 Special Events  2-3 Student Highlights   3 Commencement 2005  4-5 Colt Corner  7 Travel to Italy  8 Academy Reference Guide Since its release in August 2004, more than 1,269 copies of the updated 9-12 Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide have been distributed. To date, the Academy has received 21,700 inquiries regarding its K-12 curriculum. More than 9,100 K-8 and 9-12 Reference Guides have been distributed in all 50 states and in 13 foreign countries. ere are currently some 475 schools known to be using the K-12 Guides. A newly released video portraying Academy life is now available as well. To download the K-8 or 9-12 Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide, visit www.hillsdale.edu/academy. Print copies, with video, may be purchased for $100 each or $175 if both volumes are purchased at the same time. To order, please call the Hillsdale Academy marketing office at (800) 989-7323.

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Page 1: Hesiod and “Good Strife” I · Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics,

cademyA aneL Vol. 4, No. 1  • Fall 2005

In the eighth century B.C., two Greek brothers argued over their deceased father’s estate. Hesiod, who sought an equal division

of the wealth, lost most of his share to Perses, whose victory was secured by “bribe-swallowing

lords.” That their story is as modern as it is ancient offers a reminder that human nature has not changed over the past 2,700 years. Magistrates can still be bribed while families still go to court over the estates of their departed relatives. And yet, as is possible in all conflict, Hesiod did not allow the situation to unfold without a lesson learned.Hesiod warned Perses against the “bad Strife” who “fosters evil war and battle, being cruel.” This Strife, he argued, “delights in mischief” and holds the heart “back from work.” He cautioned his brother to prefer “good Strife” who is “far kinder to men.” This “good Strife” provides men with aspirations and ambitions that lead to true confidence and success. It builds up rather than tears down. Hesiod writes,

She stirs up even the lazy to work; for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbor, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbor vies with his neighbor as he hurries after wealth. This strife is wholesome for men. (Works and Days, 20-24)

I think of Hesiod’s advice when talking with people much older than myself. Quite often these friends will describe the great struggles of life; struggles

full of good strife—full of good work, full of sweat and even tears. More than playtime or vacations or easy gain, it was the difficult job well done, the strenuous triumph in athletic competition or the sacrifice made for the sake of good and of family that lie most central to their strongest and best memories. Hesiod criticized his brother for seeking easy and immoral gain. Perses took the route that brought ill-got wealth and “bad Strife.” His greed would forever haunt their family. Hesiod pleaded with his brother saying, “You shall have no second chance to deal so again: no, let us settle our dispute here with true judgment.” I wonder what guilty thoughts plagued Perses’s mind as he faced his last days on earth. As we now know, millennia past, his legacy was not one in which he could take pride.Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics, learn that leisure and ease are the benefits of hard work, of good strife. These benefits do not come easily. Healthy competition and good strife produce an entrepreneurial spirit that not only raises the quality of life for the individual and his family, but for the community as well. Good strife fosters courage, competition and the best kind of success rather than causing division through bad strife, by gaining wealth from others through the courts, through laziness or through the coercion of the state via welfare. In school, this means that good, hard work and competition produce students ready to strive for the right kind of goals rather than for the opportunity to rob from others. We would do well to follow Hesiod’s advice to Perses and “lay up these things” in our hearts.

Dr. Ken Calvert

Headmaster’s Corner

Hesiod and “Good Strife”

F eatures

Faculty Highlights  2

Special Events  2-3

Student Highlights   3

Commencement 2005 4-5

Colt Corner  7

Travel to Italy  8

Academy Reference Guide

Since its release in August 2004, more than 1,269 copies of the updated 9-12 Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide have been distributed. To date, the Academy has received 21,700 inquiries regarding its K-12 curriculum. More than 9,100 K-8 and 9-12 Reference Guides have been distributed in all 50 states and in 13 foreign countries. There are currently some 475 schools

known to be using the K-12 Guides. A newly released video portraying Academy life is now available as well. To download the K-8 or 9-12 Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide, visit www.hillsdale.edu/academy. Print copies, with video, may be purchased for $100 each or $175 if both volumes are purchased at the same time. To order, please call the Hillsdale Academy marketing office at (800) 989-7323.

Page 2: Hesiod and “Good Strife” I · Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics,

Faculty HighlightsMrs. Carin Harner has been named to the position of First and Second Grade teacher beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, succeeding Mrs. Carie Brown, who had been on maternity leave since spring 2005 with the birth of her second child, Wade. Mrs. Harner comes to the Academy with years of private school elementary-level teaching experience, and has also served as a substitute teacher and short-term administrative staff member at the Academy. Mrs. Brown will continue her association with the Academy as a substitute teacher and part-time Lower School assistant. Many thanks to Lower School Coordinator Kelly Lantis for doing a great job substituting for Mrs. Brown during her maternity leave.Headmaster Ken Calvert also announced that Mrs. Melissa Holm has been appointed to teach literature and rhetoric in the Upper School starting with the new school year. She replaces Bobbi Strouse, who left at the end of the school year to take a teaching position at Lenawee Christian Academy in Adrian, Michigan. Mrs. Holm has teaching experience at the Cambridge School of Dallas, Texas, and has spent this past year teaching Upper School writing and rhetoric.Matthew “Woody” Woudenberg was appointed to the part-time position of Art Instructor in the beginning of 2005, succeeding Mrs. Lori Dickinson. A 1998 graduate of Hillsdale College, Mr. Woudenberg majored in art with a double minor in mathematics and physics. He moved back to Michigan after living and working in Colorado for four years, where in his free time he climbed 24 “fourteeners” (mountains that exceed 14,000 feet in height).

Academy Receives GrantThe Board of Directors of the Charles M. Bauervic Foundation, Inc. of Suttons Bay, Michigan, has awarded Hillsdale Academy $10,000 to further strengthen its Upper School curriculum in the areas of Latin, rhetoric and composition. “The Bauervic Foundation grant will be used to purchase texts and develop materials for these important courses,” Academy Headmaster Ken Calvert said.“This funding will provide further enhancements to our existing programs in these subjects, which contribute to a well-rounded traditional education for our Upper School students,” Dr. Calvert continued. “We are indebted to the Bauervic Foundation for its continuing support of Hillsdale Academy’s goals.”

Nationally known author Trinka Hakes N

oble visited the

Academy in March and spoke to Lower School st

udents. Here

she demonstrates the book printing process.

pecialS

Dody Wyman of River Raisin Raptor

Center in Manchester talked to

Lower School students about her work

rehabilitating sick or injured birds of

prey.

On March 3, the K-6 classes attended a performance at the Potter Center in Jackson about Harriett Tubman and the Underground Railroad. In April, Grades 3-6 returned to the Potter Center to see a play based on Mark Twain’s classic book Huckleberry Finn.Grades 5-8 went to Dearborn on March 16 to take the new Ford Rouge Factory tour and learn about the automobile manufacturing process. On April 28, the K-2 classes returned to the Dasch family farm, located just outside of Hillsdale. They watched sheep being sheared, took a nature hike and enjoyed a hayride. The seventh- and eighth-grade classes took their annual trip to the Stratford Theater Festival in Ontario, Canada, on May 12, where they attended performances of As You Like It and Hello, Dolly.On May 24, Grades K-2 visited the Binder Park Zoo in

Battle Creek.The fifth and sixth graders took a trip on May 26 to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo to learn about aviation and the importance of flight.

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Student HighlightsFrom time to time, Academy Lane will feature the work of Academy students. The following is an essay written by sixth-grade student Caitlin Dunlap, originally submitted to C-SPAN’s essay contest on Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

The Gettysburg Address: A New Birth of Freedom in the U.S.

With his “Gettysburg Address,” Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, helped form a new nation. It was in a little town called Gettysburg, with no real prominence, that he did so, after a long, grueling battle had taken place right where he stood. Most of the audience hadn’t come to listen to him, and they had no idea that his words would re-define and help to clarify the rights of Americans. When our founding fathers wrote the Constitution, there was no mention of equality. But the phrase “all men are created equal” appears in the Declaration of Independence. In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the last line, “...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” represents equality, and that freedom was worth dying for. Back in those days, you didn’t vote for your president, you voted for a group of people called “electors” who voted for you. But when Lincoln said that, people started thinking, “What if I could vote directly?” Pretty soon, black and white men could vote (although after the Civil War, blacks could still be stopped from voting in some states, and they didn’t get a universal right until 1965). Lincoln’s words got women thinking, too, and in 1917, women got the vote. In the 21st century, we have seen that our freedom is easy to attack. In the words of President George W. Bush, “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.”Our founding fathers and Abraham Lincoln have helped this country to be truly free. President Bush continues to be dedicated to preserving our freedom.

Alumni Highlights2004 Graduates Named AP Scholars

Two of Hillsdale Academy’s 2004 graduates have received the distinction of being named AP Scholars for their outstanding scores on the 2004 AP examinations.Class of 2004 Salutatorian Caitlin Baron, a rising sophomore at Hillsdale College, has been identified as an AP Scholar for her excellent performances on the Biology, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, and United States History examinations. Class of 2004 Valedictorian Nicholas Hayes, a rising sophomore at Harvard University, has been named an AP Scholar with Distinction for his excellent scores on the Biology, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, French Language, Latin Vergil and United States History examinations.

pecialS ventsE

Grades K-2 enjoyed a trip to the Dasch Farm to

watch the sheep get sheared.

Mrs. Sanford’s third and fourth graders spent May 26 in Litchfield at the Sand Creek one-room schoolhouse. The students and teachers learned first-hand about the American education system of the late 1800s by dressing in period clothing, bringing their lunches in pails, and using old-fashioned chalk slates and copy books for their lessons that day. The Upper School made its annual canoe trip on May 27, traveling to the Three Rivers area, where they rented canoes for a day-long outing on the St. Joseph River. It was a great way for the graduating seniors to celebrate their last day of school.

3

Actor and Abe Lincoln look-alike Fritz Klein visited the Academy in January and gave a fascinating portrayal of one of America’s most famous presidents. Mr. Klein has been acting as Lincoln professionally since 1980 on stage, film and video.

Page 4: Hesiod and “Good Strife” I · Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics,

Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn presents the Academy’s graduating class of 2005 at their Commencement ceremony on June 5th.

Charlotte and Laura Painter Twin sisters Charlotte and Laura Painter were respectively named Salutatorian and Valedictorian of the Class of 2005. They will attend Albion College in Albion, where both were awarded an Albion College Trustee Scholarship. In her salutatory address, Charlotte, an honor student and National Honor Society member, reviewed the highlights of her freshman and sophomore year at the Academy. Her prospective fields of study are geology and pre-dentistry. In her valedictory address, Laura Painter (also an honor student and National Honor Society member) spoke about the learning experiences of her junior and senior year. Laura’s prospective field of study is chemistry. The twins’ list of awards includes: Women’s Life Awards (for Salutatorian and Valedictorian), Michigan Merit Awards, Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificates and Girl Scout Gold Awards.

Kyle Aumock Kyle Aumock, who plans a career in law enforcement, will attend Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. Kyle’s accomplishments include a Michigan Merit Award, four varsity letters in soccer and basketball, three varsity letters in track and two varsity letters in cross-country.

Jeanelle Bediako Jeanelle Bediako, a National Honor Society member, has been accepted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she plans a major in pre-medicine. Her achievements include a Michigan Merit Award and varsity letters in track and volleyball.

Adam Clark Adam Clark will attend Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, where his prospective field of study is engineering. Adam distinguished himself by earning a Michigan Merit Award, a Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificate, and a Distinguished Scholarship and Trustee Award at Tri-State. He is an Eagle Scout whose athletic honors include four varsity letters in soccer, basketball and track.

Monica Craig Monica Craig, a National Merit Finalist, honor student and National Honor Society member, will attend the University of Dallas in Texas, where she plans to major in politics and pre-medicine. Her list of awards includes a University of Dallas Merit Scholarship, a Hillsdale Community Foundation County Scholarship, the Hillsdale Community Foundation Karen Ansett Award, a Michigan Merit Award and a Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificate. She also distinguished herself in athletics, with three varsity letters in track, three varsity letters in cross-country, four varsity letters in volleyball and two varsity letters in basketball.

Twelve students graduated from Hillsdale Academy at its Fifth Commencement Ceremony on June 5. Dr. William B. Allen, professor of political science at Michigan State University

(MSU) and director of MSU’s Program in Public Policy and Public Administration, delivered the commencement address after an introduction by Dr. Larry Arnn, Hillsdale College president.Dr. Allen is a graduate of Pepperdine College and received his doctorate in government at Claremont Graduate School. He has served as a member of the National Council for the Humanities during the Reagan administration, member and chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, Dean and Professor at James Madison College, Michigan State University, and has taught at Harvey Mudd College in California.Dr. Allen has been recognized for excellence in liberal education on the 1997 Templeton Honor Roll; is a Kellogg National Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow; and received the international Prix Montesquieu.His latest book is Habits of Mind: Fostering Access and Excellence in Higher Education (with Carol M. Allen). He has published recent scholarship on such topics as higher education, citizenship, Machiavelli, ideas of global community and religious liberty.Dr. Allen is married to Carol M. Allen, a research specialist at Michigan State University. He has two children, one a professor of classics and dean of humanities at University of Chicago, and the other an attorney in practice in Washington, D.C.

ommencementC

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Page 5: Hesiod and “Good Strife” I · Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics,

Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn presents the Academy’s graduating class of 2005 at their Commencement ceremony on June 5th.

Lindsay Horton Lindsay Horton, a talented singer, honor student and National Honor Society member, has been accepted to Hillsdale College, where her prospective fields of study are history and English. Lindsay was awarded a Hillsdale College Merit Scholarship, a Michigan Merit Award, a Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificate and a Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award. She has two varsity letters in basketball.

Jessica Marsh Jessica Marsh, who was awarded a National Merit commendation and also is an honor student and National Honor Society member, will attend The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Her prospective fields of study are anthropology and archaeology. She earned The College of Wooster’s College Scholar Award, a Hillsdale College Merit Scholarship, a Luther College Regent Scholarship, a Michigan Merit Award, a Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificate, a Hillsdale First United Methodist Church Scholarship, and the Academy’s Recitation Superior Performance Award. Jessica also has three varsity letters in track, three varsity letters in cross-country and four varsity letters in basketball.

Chris Moench Chris Moench also is headed to Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, where his prospective field of study is golf business management. He earned a Michigan Merit Award and has three varsity letters in track, two varsity letters in golf and a varsity letter in cross-country.

Patricia Owusu Patricia Owusu, an honor student and National Honor Society member, will join Jeanelle Bediako at the University of Michigan and also plans a pre-med major. She is a National Merit Black Scholar and is part of the National Society of High School Honors.

Brian Potts Brian Potts will attend Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana. A Michigan Merit Award recipient, Brian earned four varsity letters in soccer, four varsity letters in track and field and three varsity letters in basketball.

Leslie Ryan Honor student and National Honor Society member Leslie Ryan has been accepted at Hillsdale College. Her recognitions include: a Capital University Trustees Scholarship and Heritage Award, a University of Dayton Scholarship Award, a Michigan Merit Award and a Michigan Competitive Scholarship certificate. Leslie earned three varsity letters in basketball and a varsity letter in track.

Congratulations to the graduates of 2005!

ommencementC0052

The Beauty of Common Sense by W.B. Allen

We celebrated our fallen heroes last weekend. Do we remember why? In senior memories

we urge upon one another exertions and affections large. Will we remember them? To know where we are going, must we recall where we started? Is that what sustains our dreams?These musings yielded the question that shapes these remarks today: what do Memorial Day, Aaron Copland and Senior Memory Books have in common? Memorial Day, you recall, discovers heroism above all in those who made the ultimate sacrifice, who wrote their own history with their blood rather than with pen and ink. Your epigrammatic invocation of Winston Churchill (“History shall be kind to me, for I shall write it!”) inspired me to wonder whether history is sometimes kind to those who do not write and sometimes unkind to those who do.There was a general before Churchill, who wrote of the granddaddy of all Memorial Day speeches—Pericles’s “Funeral Oration.” Thucydides also wrote his own history (“History of the Peloponnesian Wars”), and he believed that it recorded the “greatest” human motion. His biographer, Marcellinus, however, writes that Thucydides is remembered at his grave-site only with the words, “Thucydides, son of Olorus, a Halimousian [lies here].” While we who study and teach Thucydides may say that he has taken care to write the history that matters, it is also true that Marcellinus (who apparently also wrote a history of Demosthenes) preserves the history of Thucydides the exile, who lost important territory in the war, who was instructed by the notorious sophist, Antiphon, and who was too grasping of money. [[Thucydides] displayed many examples of private wisdom by making a defense for Pyrilampes and triumphing over

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Page 6: Hesiod and “Good Strife” I · Hesiod’s story is a lesson in courage, virtue and wisdom (virtus et sapientia). Those who learn from Hesiod, who read in the Greek and Latin classics,

Pericles, who prosecuted it. From this he was elected general and was put forward to be archon of his deme. But he became ambitious in his affairs. To the extent that he became a lover of money, he also did not permit himself much time to put first [the affairs] of his deme.]In short, while we are called to discover the heroism of our fallen soldiers in their deeds, we are called to discover the wisdom of Thucydides beyond his deeds. The wit to understand history is not always to be found in the heroic guile to make history.One can scarce think of heroes without being instructed by Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Where else is there so stately, so sonorous, so dignified a celebration of human exertion? Compare it to “Pomp and Circumstance,” which seems waltz-like in its elegance and, therefore, emblematic of effortless grace. The “Fanfare” by contrast evokes the moved mountain—repeated labors of ascent and expected resolutions. Unshaken faith alone attains so wondrously. Here I should play the “Fanfare” for you, but must rest with asking you to imagine hearing it. I submit that you will arrive at a simple understanding, namely, that Copland seems to say, “the common man is never our hero but is always more heroic.”This is a theme that could carry us well beyond the prudent measure of a commencement address. So I shall say but one more word about the “Fanfare.” It seeks to affirm the same truth that we proclaim every Memorial Day—namely, that human excellences must take root in ordinary souls in order to be excellences at all. Indeed, the ultimate symbol of Memorial Day is the laying of a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. The hero without a name is nonetheless a hero, and very much the “common man.”Then there are those Senior Memory books; where else can we find so enduringly inscribed the narrow circles of common ambitions straining against the reasonable expectations of common humanity? Maybe you have already filled your own books with your respective wisdoms. I, too, have a Senior Memory Book, and I was amused to rediscover what it recorded. Let me make an object lesson of myself, in order to convey the center of this message today. Here is a not quite random selection of some of the messages given to me in 1962, when I stood where you now stand:

“Love many; trust few; learn to paddle your own canoe.”    Mr. Sullivan

Dear Barkley: “In order to reach the top, you have to leave the bottom.”  A Pal. Arline & Calvin

Dear (Rev): “May your troubles be like Grandpa’s teeth-–few and very far apart.”   Cleonie Dear William: “Don’t  let  your brains  get dull  from being  too much of a genius; have fun and success will be of great value. Pal always.”  

PeggieDear Rev: “It’s a good thing you have a brain. Without it I pity you.” 

Jimmy“It takes a little self-control and a grim determination if you want to reach your goal.”   Charlie Young“The world owes you a living, but you have to work hard to collect it.” 

Mary AkinsSay there Barclay: “One cannot always be a hero, but one can always 

be a ‘man.’ Yours,” Sylvia JonesDear William: “Always feel that you are the best. So a man thinketh, so  he  is.  Don’t  forget  to  span  the  tide  for  those  to  follow.  A  Pal.”   

Dorothy (Dottie) DoveMy Dear William: “It is a pleasure to autograph your book. Keep sweet and may success be with you always!”   Shirley (“The Man fool”)“Be not simply good (Rev.), but be good for something.”   Alfred

Now all of these common sense inspirations constitute affirmations of

the principle that aspirations toward human excellence confirm ordinary humanity. In that respect, they share much in common with the wisdom of the Hillsdale College speaker who, earlier this spring, advised students “not to be blockheads.” Having received so much learning, along with the leisure to benefit from it, it would be a great pity if students should become blockheads. David McCullough seemed to have in mind the notion that education is fit for man only when man makes fit use of it. King Solomon sought no more when he asked God for wisdom, though God graciously granted far more than he asked. “By wisdom a house is built, by discernment the foundation is laid; by knowledge its storerooms filled with riches of every kind, rare and desirable” (Prov. 24:3-4).These observations imply that the power of discourse aims to make men better. But, we must ask, better than what? When one aims to make men better, what one aims to do is to make them act consistently with the highest elements of their nature. Fontaine’s fable called “Education” displays this truth. In it he tells of two dogs, Caesar and Laridon, sprung from the same loins. They had the same noble lineage, but they fell under the nurture of differing masters. One, Caesar, was set free to roam the fields but was disciplined, while the other was simply a kitchen dweller. The one who was the kitchen dweller came to be called “Laridon” for that very reason (for we may translate Laridon from the French to “Porky”).Caesar chased and felled boars in the fields and developed a vigorous constitution; he obtained his name by virtue of his excellence, the virtue of his being, his soul, and his disciplined training. The master protected Caesar, the fable continues, only allowing him to mate with the finest of his breed. Thus, his lineage retained its fine characteristics. Laridon, on the other hand, happened to mate with whatever he happened to come across and, in fact, spread mongrels throughout France. Fontaine did not mean by this fable what we know as the nature-nurture debate. For, interestingly enough, we notice in the case of Caesar that, while he is disciplined and not allowed to mate with whatever comes along, he is also left free. In fact, Fontaine says at the end of the fable, the elements of Caesar’s nature were favored by the discipline. Thus, Caesar was the dog who was raised to be, as the Marines like to say, the best that he can be; while Laridon, in effect, was not raised. He was indulged, fed, left to roam, and assumed not to require any particular challenge in his growth and development.That’s the end of the fable as Fontaine relates it. What does it mean to us? I think it means something like this: it is not enough to convey prejudices and otherwise to leave people a la Jean Jacques Rousseau, to follow their natures with no particular discipline.General good feelings, preachings about harmony, and preachings about respect are poor substitutes for respect earned through diligent effort and demonstrated merit. True education calls upon us to demonstrate merit in a way that is tied to our relationship with our fellows. We are often asked to demonstrate merit, we are often given hard tasks, but we are often insulated from any connection between our accomplishments and our relationships with our fellows.The great impulse today seems to be to avoid the eminence of merit, to avoid challenging everyone with the same or similar work and the same or similar exams, and then identifying those who shine and paying true deference and respect to them. While there is respect of one sort for those who shine, there is likely to be more envy than deference, or, worse still, there are likely to be greater attempts to define away the shining. For example, folk often attack the idea of testing itself (as our governor has recently done). In all of this, we attack universal standards of judgment, as if the distinctions they give rise to were invidious. Any challenge that produces distinction, insofar as the distinction is socially visible, comes under attack in the age in which we now live.

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Accordingly, we have a great responsibility to try to free ourselves from the contemporary prejudices that treat universals as fictions. Our responsibility is to try to give ourselves what our society refuses to give us, and that is a true education in universal principles. We might well conclude that, unless we are capable of disciplining ourselves, none of us shall ever become the Caesars; we are all far more likely to become the Laridons of the world.Now, I suppose that education seems for you right now just about the height of accomplishment, though perhaps already you glimpse further heights to ascend in realms of practical endeavor. But those further heights become visible only in proportion as your education serves the purpose of seeing through the haze of distorting prejudices. “He who conceals his faults will not prosper; he who confesses and renounces them will find mercy” (Prov. 28:10). What holy writ proposes for salvation is at the same time the road to excellence in this world.That is, above all, the reason that we are disposed to found our ambitions on the praises that are due to men in common. The praise of virtue is always sweeter when we are not alone in claming it. “Let the other man praise you, but not your own mouth. A stranger, but not your lips” (Prov. 27:2). A further fable illustrates this well, though it may appear superficially to contradict Fontaine’s “Education.”Golding’s 16th-century version of Aesop’s “The Lion and the Hunter” is called “The Lion and the Man.” “As a Lion and a Man went talking on the way together, of divers things after the manner of travelers, [to pass the time and ease their wearines with sundry communications,] they fell from their former talk to altercation about the beauty and strength of body which consisteth in the force of the sinews. For either of them extolled his own strength [to the uttermost,] with as great commendation as he could. The Lion according to the nobleness of courage bred in him by kind, maintained his part stoutly. The man [on the other side] according to the ability of his wit, left nothing that might sound to his own praise. When they [had thus overpassed a good piece of their way,] came by chance to a pillar wherein was engraven the heroical deed of a man [Hercules] that had wrestled with a lion and killed him: the Man, boasting intolerably of this deed, [began to embase the virtue

of the Lion;] whereupon the controversy proceeded so far that the Lion bursting out in the heat of choler, tore the vainglorious fellow in pieces, and with sorrowful example made proof of his strength upon the wretch himself for his immoderate boasting.”Now this fable commonly concludes with less blood, the lion simply declaring that, if lions could paint, lions would end on top! Golding’s version, however, draws our eye far more immediately to the disproportion between the claim of the race (represented by Hercules) and the claim of the man traveling with the lion. While the man could reasonably have praised Hercules for the accomplishment, and also therefore have praised men for possessing the specific excellence, he exceeded tolerable limits when seeming to claim the distinction personally. He was precisely a blockhead.How, then, you may inquire, are you to aim for the excellence that is made visible only by what men hold in common, without running afoul of that prudential judgment that counsels humility? Here, too, holy writ aids us: “Like apples of gold in a silver setting is a word that is aptly spoken” (Prov. 25:11). The apt speech (as in Pericles’s “Funeral Oration”) distinguishes the judgment of the speaker as the golden apple placed in the silver setting of humanity’s excellence. And nowhere does one acquire apt speech except through careful learning. It is the completeness of true education that your parents have offered and now wait to see you embrace. “May you be the joy of your father, the gladness of her who bore you!” (Prov. 23:25)Since you still have time to take note of this, I ask whether your Senior Memory Book will be there years hence, to remind you that, while few will be named heroes, each of you must be heroic?Yes, there is one more memory from my Senior Memory Book. It was offered by Leola, and it reads: “Dear William: ‘Always finish what you start.’” What Memorial Day, Aaron Copland and a Senior Memory Book have in common is nothing less than the discovery of the noble within the common—a pre-post-modern vision of humanity’s striving in the light of those excellences toward which we are drawn when we take most seriously what is worthy, true and beautiful. May you be granted the wisdom to emulate Solomon’s simple request and to merit the grace of God’s generous response!

Colt Corner Record-Breaking Year for Track and Field TeamThe 2005 Track and Field season was a great ending to another outstanding year for the Colt Athletic program. The Girls’ Varsity Track Team finished the season with a perfect 11-0 dual meet record and captured the South Central Athletic Association Conference Title. In addition, nine girls qualified for the state meet, and juniors Anna Leutheuser and Andrea Simpson finished second in the state in the discus and shot put, respectively. The Colts finished third in the region and tied for 12th in the state. The girls’ team shattered 15 of 17 school records. The Lady Colts will lose Jessica Marsh and Monica Craig to graduation, but will return a solid core of athletes for a much-anticipated 2006 season.Junior Josh Risner led the Boys’ Track Team to another solid season. Two days after suddenly losing his father, Risner ran a race to remember at the regional finals and qualified for the state track meet in the 800-meter run. The Colt Track and Field program has a strong foundation with a total of 55 student-athletes competing this past spring. The junior high team tied or broke 14 school records.

Congratulations, State Qualifiers!

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HILLSDALE, MI

VOL. 4, NO. 1 FALL 2005

A cademy L ane

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Phone: (517) 439-8644 ♦ Fax: (517) 607-2794 www.hillsdale.edu/academy

Exploring Italy’s Treasures

Monica Craig from the cupola of St. Peter’s.

For the Academy’s juniors and seniors, Spring Break 2005 was no run-of-the-mill trip to the beach or amusement park. Rather, 24

students, along with eight parents and four staff members, traveled to Italy for an 11-day tour of Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. The tradition for our junior/senior trip began in 2003 with a tour of Oxford and London.During their stay in Rome, the group was overawed by tours of the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Capitoline Museums as well as the Forum, Coliseum and Spanish Steps. After a visit southward to Pompeii, the group headed north to Pisa and Florence. Once in the city of the Medici, our group visited the Uffizi museum as well as Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia. Street performers in Florence mixed with a heavy dose of Gelato (Italian ice cream) made our visit to that city all the more wonderful. While in Florence, our group also toured the Duomo (cathedral) of Florence and its beautiful baptistery.

A visit to Verona on the way to Venice included a look at the Romeo and Juliet balcony as well as a tour of the rather upscale shops in that beautiful, ancient city. Venice was, of course, overwhelming in beauty. While there, our group toured the Grand Canal, the Piazza of San Marco and the Palace of the Doge. We learned much about the 1,000-year history of the Republic of Venice and its days as a major Mediterranean trading power. We even took time to get “lost” in the maze of streets and alleyways of Venice. Our final stop in Milan included a visit to the “Last Supper” of Leonardo Da Vinci. This magnificent work of art was the crowning moment for a wonderful trip. Our next excursion will take place in 2007 with a tour of Athens, Rome and Florence.

Academy students demonstrated their academic prowess at two separate Hillsdale County Quiz Bowl competitions last winter.Hillsdale Academy teams from the seventh and eighth grades competed against teams from throughout Hillsdale County in the middle school Quiz Bowl. The two Academy eighth-grade teams took first and second place in the competition. The first-place team consisted of Anthony Alvarez, Gabrielle Ruchames, Mallory Horton, Tom Lundberg and Michaya Snell. The second-place team consisted of Patrick Sullivan, Rich Péwé, Connaught Blood, Jacob Macdonald and Rachel Buckle. The seventh-grade team, Grace Leutheuser, Elizabeth Brady, Joe Craig, Lauren McDonald and Charles Ross, earned second place in the competition.Academy teams from the fifth and sixth grades competed against teams from throughout Hillsdale County in the elementary Quiz Bowl event held at Pittsford High School. The two Academy sixth-grade teams swept first and second place in the competition. The undefeated first-place team consisted of Eric Lisznyai, Caitlin Dunlap, Katie Rose, Katelyn Wollett and Grae Barber, while the second-place team consisted of Peter Sullivan, Kayla Berro, Christina Frudakis, Heather Lantis and Michelle McAvoy. Two fifth-grade teams also competed in the event. Team A, which consisted of Sam Davies, Aaron Detmers, Melinda Lee and Katherine Vaillancourt, earned third place. Team B, which consisted of Joel Calvert, Anders Kiledal, Emily Péwé and Chris Potts, earned fourth place.

Academy Teams Shine at Area Quiz Bowls