Hillsdale College Holds Freshman Foundation and Senior Capstone Lectures
The lectures remind students of the purpose of a Hillsdale education.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College held its annual Freshman Foundation and Senior Capstone lectures in September. The lectures remind students at the beginning and end of their college journeys of the purpose of a Hillsdale education.
“[Hillsdale College] is a crucible for the development of intellect and character and the exploration of the permanent things…”
Professor of History Mark Kalthoff gave the Freshman Foundation lecture on learning. He said that liberal learning means studying things worth knowing for their own sake, without regard for their practical relevance. While it turns out to have useful consequences, he said, those consequences will be lost if liberal education is pursued for the sake of utility.
“Liberal learning produces cultivated, civilized men and women,” Kalthoff said. “It produces thoughtful people who have at their disposal a wealth of general knowledge and who, in the light of this knowledge, can judge matters of significance with a disinterested manner. Liberal education likewise produces people capable of continuing to educate themselves — people endowed with the necessary framework, curiosity, and methods to pursue a life of learning and vocational success.”
Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn gave the two Senior Capstone lectures. In the first lecture, he told the students that the purpose of a college is related to the purpose of a human being.
“There is this argument both in Christianity and in the best philosophy that we were put here to sacrifice for the good and therefore vindicate it,” Dr. Arnn said. “And AI cannot do that. It can pretend, but we are not pretending. Our life ends in tragedy and then heaven. And we make all our choices knowing that. And we are tempted to immediate advantage all the time. And if we give into that consistently, we will become a miserable human being. And if we don’t, we won’t. That’s our fate. That’s our lot. That’s what we’re for.”
He discussed with the students what Hillsdale College is.
“It is a crucible for the development of intellect and character and the exploration of the permanent things, which will equip us, I will add, to make our choices in active life better because we know the ultimate truth, some portion of which is represented in every beautiful action when we choose it well,” Dr. Arnn said. “That’s what we do.”
The Freshman Foundation and Senior Capstone lectures help students think more deeply about Hillsdale’s liberal arts core curriculum. The core includes eighteen course requirements all students must fulfill as a foundation for their studies, including required classes in philosophy, theology, the natural sciences, great books, history, mathematics, and the U.S. Constitution.