A Convergence

Back in the Fall of 1968, I was seriously considering applying to New College. 

The Charter Class graduated, in 1967; the thought of being in on the start of something new was thrilling.  

At that time, individual majors were encouraged, and hands-on learning was part and parcel of the experience. Best of all, there were no grades.  With a faculty/student ratio of 10-1, faculty-student contracts were used to monitor progress. 

This had great appeal to me. I wanted to understand what Mr. Rudolph was teaching in Math 12X.  I wanted to learn, but I was being graded by what I could take in and reproduce before I fully grasped it.  If we'd had a contract, I'd have set my own goal, a much less lofty one than the District demanded, and I would have relished the opportunity to take my time and figured it out.  

That's not something you can do in a big school.  The intimacy appealed to me. 

G'ma put the kibosh on it pretty quickly.  It's brand new.  What makes you think it will be there for 4 more years? Nothing about the curriculum or the no grades, though she read the catalogs along with me.  Just my Mommy looking out for me, seeking stability for her first born.

I, foolish and naïve, didn't counter with,  I'll transfer.  I moved on.  And, as usual, G'ma was right. Her timing was a few decades off, but New College isn't there anymore. The fascists are coming for the books and the learning and New College has been swept up in the maelstrom. 

Remember the Jews and the Commies and the homosexuals who were purged from Germany's universities in the 1930's? Read this article and tell me that the same thing isn't happening in Florida right now. 

They want to take it down to the moral studs and build out a replica of Hillsdale College. “I understand that there is a new mandate for this college,” was the President's response.  

Cornell University, my alma mater, has a Mission Statement:  I would found an institution where any person may find instruction in any subject.

Hillsdale College has a mission statement too.  It runs down several screens on the laptop, and includes items such as these: (font captured exactly)

The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.

By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.

It ends with this gem:

The College values the merit of each unique individual, rather than succumbing to the dehumanizing, discriminatory trend of so-called “social justice” and “multicultural diversity,” which judges individuals not as individuals, but as members of a group and which pits one group against other competing groups in divisive power struggles.

Compare all that to the New College home page (as of May 18, 2023 at 8pm Pacific Time) Font captured exactly :

Join Our Community of Free Thinkers, Risk Takers and Trailblazers

Your education. Your way. Discover a public arts and science education driven by your curiosity, career aspirations, and individual learning style.

A new mandate for this college, indeed.