Philanthropic giving to American education is likely to rebound to pre-recession levels, according to a survey that forecasts fundraising results for the 2010-2011 academic year.

The latest semi-annual survey by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education forecasts a 5.7-percent increase in donations to schools, colleges and universities in 2010-11, close to the 20-year average annual increase of 6 percent.

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The Jack Miller Center will convene our second  Summer Institute, July 26 – August 7, in Chicago, Il. Our first Chicago Summer Institute will bring together some of the nation’s leading junior scholars. The program includes faculty mentors from the fields of Political Science, History, and Economics, as well as workshops focusing on academic career development. For more information or participant nominations, contact Emily Koons.

2010 Theme

Chicago

Liberty and Enterprise: The American Founding and the Birth of the Modern Commercial Republic

The American Constitution stands as one of the great achievements of modern philosophical and political thought.  There had been prior forms of free government in the West, from the Roman Republic, to the short-lived democratic city states of ancient Greece, to the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain.  The Framers were keen students of the strengths and weaknesses and triumphs and failures of earlier attempts to establish and perpetuate a free system of government.  Yet even as Founders readily acknowledged their indebtedness to the great thinkers and statesmen of the Western tradition, they also believed that they were creating something unprecedented, a “new order for the ages” – a new regime that was both a reflection of and a departure from its historical antecedents.  Nowhere was this departure more evident than in the Founders embrace of commerce and the free market.

For much of European history, commerce was viewed as a servile activity, something that occupied the lower classeAs, or “middling sorts”, but which was beneath the dignity of an aristocratic ruling class.  In establishing a new constitutional and commercial order, the Founders had to contend not only with past critics who doubted the practicality and wisdom of extending political freedom to ordinary citizens, but also with a substantial body of thinking which held that commercial activity and the pursuit of material gain undermined a people’s commitment to the public good.   Indeed, one of the unique features of the American Founding was not only that its leading figures defended both free government and the free market, but that they also believed that liberty and commerce, far from being incompatible, were mutually reinforcing features of life in a flourishing free society.

To be sure, the Founders themselves often disagreed among themselves on any number of issues regarding the constitution and economic affairs.  At this year’s summer institute we will engage the debate the Founders themselves engaged in.  What are the necessary elements of both free political institutions and a free market, and are they in fact mutually reinforcing or at times in tension with one another?  Does the pursuit of material gain seamlessly promote the public good, or is it at times in tension with the public good?  And what institutions and institutional restraints did the Founders envision would be necessary to manage such tensions and promote political stability, and economic prosperity, while protecting individual liberty?  Does a system of self-government and free enterprise depend on certain moral preconditions such as honesty, trustworthiness, a respect for the rule of law and a sense of fair play, and what is the origin of such virtues?  And has the great expansion of the state in the 19^th and 20^th centuries preserved individual liberty and promoted prosperity, or does it represent an unnecessary or even dangerous departure from the original vision of the Founders?

Program Goals

The Jack Miller Center seeks to advance the teaching of America’s founding principles and the broader traditions of Western Civilization on College Campuses around the country.  The Summer Institutes are an integral part of our overall mission.  Each summer institute brings together twenty-five faculty members and advanced graduate students from around the country for seminars, workshops and lectures led by many of our country’s leading scholars, educators and public intellectuals. Our goal at the summer institutes is to assist in the cultivation, support and professional advancement of the next generation of college and university professors.

Morning Seminars

Our seminars offer the most promising young scholars in the humanities and social sciences the opportunity to reflect upon and discuss the enduring ideas, issues and questions from the American past and the traditions of Western Civilization, as a means of deepening and enriching their knowledge of our history and institutions.  Led by our summer institute teaching faculty, the morning seminars allow for a robust and thoughtful discussion of the central ideas, thinkers, and texts from our history.  Each member of our summer institute teaching faculty will offer a combination of primary and secondary source readings, or original research, that explore different aspects of this year’s theme.  Participants will have the opportunity to engage the presenter and each other in a discussion of the day’s topic in an atmosphere of civility and intellectual freedom.  Morning seminars are designed not only to give the participants an opportunity to deepen their thinking concerning the central ideas of the American past, but also to develop new ideas for original research and fresh approaches to the questions that have long animated discussions of American society.  In addition, the seminars offer participants the chance to observe the teaching methods of some of the most respected scholars in higher education.

Afternoon Workshops

Our afternoon workshops are designed to assist faculty members with their professional advancement, with a particular focus on teaching, publishing, and securing tenure.  Members of our institute teaching faculty lead workshops focusing on the development of intellectually engaging courses dealing with the key ideas, themes, and events from the American past, in addition to leading workshops on effective teaching methods.  Other workshops, led by the directors of academic presses, focus on building successful book proposals and successfully navigating the editorial approval process.

Lectures

In addition to the seminars and workshops, each summer institute will feature a number of luncheon and dinner lecturers, delivered by leading academics, educators, political commentators and prominent public officials.

Each summer institute also offers our participants ample opportunities for informal discussion with our institute faculty and with one another, and time for reading, reflection and study.

Ongoing Support

In addition to the honorarium for attending the summer institute, Miller Summer Institute Fellows may be eligible to receive funds to conduct campus programming to further education in American Founding Principles.  New Miller Center Fellows can become eligible for our subsequent appointments as Annual Miller Center Fellows.  Miller Center Staff and its Academic Council are committed to assisting all Miller Fellows, whenever possible, with publishing, securing grants from public and private sources, recruitment of participants for on-campus programming, securing employment, and facilitating contacts and developing relationships with other faculty members and past Miller Fellows.

Whether you looking for specific information from a time period, or even if you want to explore the wealth of American Documents in the virtual library, this is the website for you. This is not the sizzling or flashy website you have grown accustomed to, but the Virtual Library contains one of the very best sources on the web for those seeking first hand knowledge of American History.

They have even collected everything in one convenient box. Click a year and the adventure begins.

…

Inaugural Event

The American Political Science Association has recently recognized the formation of a related group called “American Political Thought.” The group was started by Steven Kautz and Benjamin Kleinerman of Michigan State University for the purpose of providing a much needed outlet for scholarship:

Statement of Need:

The purpose of this related group is to promote interest in, and provide an outlet for, the presentation of research on American Political Thought.  American Political Thought comprises, among other things, the study of fundamental and/or authoritative texts that are constitutive of American political life; the study of the first principles that ground constitutionalism and democracy in the United States; and the study of the public philosophies or sentiments that have animated political parties (and ultimately the “public mind,” to borrow Lincoln’s expression) throughout American political history.  It is related to, but distinct from, the study of American political development and institutions, on one hand, and the study of modern political philosophy and contemporary democratic theory, on the other.

Panel:

The inaugural panel, entitled “Philosophy and American Political Thought” will held Saturday, September 4^th at the American Political Science convention in Washington D.C. (meeting room TBD):

• James Ceaser, UVA: “Alexis de Tocqueville and the Two-Founding Thesis”
• Randal Hendrickson, Duke University: “Liberalism and Republicanism in the American Political Tradition”
• Thomas Pangle, UT Austin: “Montesquieu and the Basis of Liberal Modernity in America”

Reception:

A joint reception with the Jack Miller Center will be held September 3^rd at 7:30 in Columbia 1 at the Hilton Washington.

All are invited to attend.

Graduation

educated generation in American History. But what if we looked at the students themselves:

“They come with polished resumes and perfect SAT scores. Their grades are often impeccable. Some elite universities will deny thousands of high school seniors with 4.0 grade point averages in search of an elusive quality that one provost called “intellectual vitality.” The perception is that today’s over-achieving, college-driven kids have it — whatever it is. They’re not just groomed; they’re ready. There’s just one problem.” (from boston.com)

A new study made by Professors at University of California at Riverside and Santa Barbara shows that the time students spend preparing for class has decreased by almost half. That’s right, since 1961 the percentage of the population receiving college degrees has increased, … but students may be learning less.

Why do students study less?

Here are the popular theories making their way around the internet:

Professors are apathetic. The have to publish too much and assign less and less.

Too many part-time faculty.

More students are working during school.

Students do not have the attention span to read.

… but there are more and more explanations.

There is probably no single factor that accounts for the decrease in class preparation, but all of the explanations above have one thing in common. None address the subject matter of contemporary college courses. While it is true that the decrease in average study was true for students of all majors, it is unclear what changes have taken place for all majors. Is education approached differently than it used to be?

In terms of Civic Education, the decrease in study time is alarming indeed. Several colleges have even eliminated the study of politics altogether.  At the very moment when citizens are being called upon to make judgments that affect their lives, the knowledge they possess seems to be diminishing.

What is to be done? Find out what you can do to enhance Civic Education.

SEATTLE – Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, America’s two richest people, are embarking on a campaign to persuade their super-rich peers to give half their fortunes to charity in a move that could change the face of philanthropy.

The effort, if successful, could funnel a colossal amount of money into nonprofit groups.  If the individuals on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans pledged half their net worth to charity, that would amount to $600 billion, Fortune magazine says.

Continued here.

The Center for Jewish Law and Judaic Studies (JLJS) at DePaul University College of Law hosted a conference May 13 to compare and contrast the fundamental conceptual underpinnings of the founding principles of the American Republic with those of Judaism.

The conference attracted scholars from leading universities from around the world.

“Founding a Nation/Constituting a People was the first major law school conference designed to explore the relationships between the fundamental values of America’s founding fathers and the foundational values of Judaism,” said Professor Steven Resnicoff, JLJS co-director. “The symposium brought together world class Jewish and secular scholars in law, political science, economics, and philosophy to examine these issues and to inspire further scholarship in this extremely important area.”

The conference featured three panel discussions on Fundamentals of Governance; Fundamentals of Economic Rights and Arrangements; and Fundamentals of Individual Rights, Liberties and Responsibilities.

“I started this inquiry because I wanted to discover whether there was some connection between America’s founding principles and Biblical Judaic law. As a result of this conference…I am convinced that there is a solid connection,” said Jack Miller, founder and chairman of the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. “They go hand in hand. In fact, I believe that the teachings in the Torah contain many of the concepts that inspired our founders as they crafted our wonderful founding documents.”

The conference concluded with a public summary of the panel discussions by Professor Resnicoff followed by the keynote lecture, Nation Building, Ancient and Modern: The Biblical Model for the American Experience, by Prof. Dov Zakheim, a former United States Undersecretary of Defense and a prominent Jewish scholar.

Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, JUF Judaic Scholar, made the “shidduch” between the Miller Center and JLJS. The conference was supported by the Jack Miller Center. The Miller Center’s support was funded by a $75,000 gift from a leading Chicago philanthropic foundation that wishes to remain anonymous. DePaul is one of the nation’s leading Catholic universities.

Edmund Burke

Thomas Paine

By DAVID BROOKS

When I was in college I took a course in the Enlightenment. In those days, when people spoke of the Enlightenment, they usually meant the French Enlightenment — thinkers like Descartes, Rousseau, Voltaire and Condorcet.

These were philosophers who confronted a world of superstition and feudalism and sought to expose it to the clarifying light of reason. Inspired by the scientific revolution, they had great faith in the power of individual reason to detect error and logically arrive at universal truth.

Their great model was Descartes. He aimed to begin human understanding anew. He’d discard the accumulated prejudices of the past and build from the ground up, erecting one logical certainty upon another.

What Descartes was doing for knowledge, others would do for politics: sweep away the old precedents and write new constitutions based on reason. This was the aim of the French Revolution.

But there wasn’t just one Enlightenment, headquartered in France. There was another, headquartered in Scotland and Britain and led by David Hume, Adam Smith and Edmund Burke. As Gertrude Himmelfarb wrote in her 2004 book, “The Roads to Modernity,” if the members of the French Enlightenment focused on the power of reason, members of the British Enlightenment emphasized its limits.

They put more emphasis on our sentiments. People are born with natural desires to be admired and to be worthy of admiration. They are born with moral emotions, a sense of fair play and benevolence. They are also born with darker passions, like self-love and tribalism, which mar rationalist enterprises. We are emotional creatures first and foremost, and politics should not forget that.

These two views of human nature produced different attitudes toward political change, articulated most brilliantly by Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke. Their views are the subject of a superb dissertation by Yuval Levin at the University of Chicago called “The Great Law of Change.”

As Levin shows, Paine believed that societies exist in an “eternal now.” That something has existed for ages tells us nothing about its value. The past is dead and the living should use their powers of analysis to sweep away existing arrangements when necessary, and begin the world anew. He even suggested that laws should expire after 30 years so each new generation could begin again.

Paine saw the American and French Revolutions as models for his sort of radical change. In each country, he felt, the revolutionaries deduced certain universal truths about the rights of man and then designed a new society to fit them.

Burke, a participant in the British Enlightenment, had a different vision of change. He believed that each generation is a small part of a long chain of history. We serve as trustees for the wisdom of the ages and are obliged to pass it down, a little improved, to our descendents. That wisdom fills the gaps in our own reason, as age-old institutions implicitly contain more wisdom than any individual could have.

Burke was horrified at the thought that individuals would use abstract reason to sweep away arrangements that had stood the test of time. He believed in continual reform, but reform is not novelty. You don’t try to change the fundamental substance of an institution. You try to modify from within, keeping the good parts and adjusting the parts that aren’t working.

If you try to re-engineer society on the basis of abstract plans, Burke argued, you’ll end up causing all sorts of fresh difficulties, because the social organism is more complicated than you can possibly know. We could never get things right from scratch.

Burke also supported the American Revolution, but saw it in a different light than Paine. He believed the British Parliament had recklessly trampled upon the ancient liberties the colonists had come to enjoy. The Americans were seeking to preserve what they had.

We Americans have never figured out whether we are children of the French or the British Enlightenment. Was our founding a radical departure or an act of preservation? This was a bone of contention between Jefferson and Hamilton, and it’s a bone of contention today, both between parties and within each one.

Today, if you look around American politics you see self-described conservative radicals who seek to sweep away 100 years of history and return government to its preindustrial role. You see self-confident Democratic technocrats who have tremendous faith in the power of government officials to use reason to control and reorganize complex systems. You see polemicists of the left and right practicing a highly abstract and ideological Jacobin style of politics.

The children of the British Enlightenment are in retreat. Yet there is the stubborn fact of human nature. The Scots were right, and the French were wrong. And out of that truth grows a style of change, a style that emphasizes modesty, gradualism and balance.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on May 25, 2010, on page A27 of the New York edition.