John S. Lillard is the former chairman of the Wintrust Financial Corporation, a financial services holding company with headquarters in Lake
Forest, Ill. In his retirement, Lillard devotes much of his time to a variety of civic and educational causes, including the Jack Miller Center.
“The Miller Center is responding to educators at colleges and universities across the country, helping them find ways to teach the wisdom of the Founding Fathers,” Lillard says. “They are doing a great job inspiring young people to learn about the founding principles of our Republic.”
Lillard’s support of the Jack Miller Center comes at a crucial time in our nation’s history. Numerous studies in recent years have provided evidence that colleges and universities are doing very little to increase students’ knowledge about America’s founding principles and history.
Harvard President Emeritus Derek Bok in his book, “Our Underachieving Colleges,” notes “schools and universities have a special responsibility to take citizenship seriously because of the close connection between education and political engagement.”
“I think it’s very important today that our young people learn the ideas of our Founding Fathers,” continues Lillard, who is also a trustee of the Chicago Symphony and a trustee of the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. “Especially when we have witnessed a relentless growth in the size and reach of government in recent years.
“The ideas of our democracy are based on what the Greeks and the Romans had learned. [ John] Locke, [David] Hume, Adam Smith, they were very thoughtful, intelligent people who shaped these beliefs, and for young people today to be able to go out and vote without knowing these formative ideas is a real handicap.”
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Tags: civic education, Derek Bok, Jack Miller Center, John Lillard