The Core Problem

I am a history major. Of the 147 semester hours required of me to graduate, 36 consist of history. I will have taken more classes in the areas of science and engineering than history. I will have taken an equal number of social science and humanities courses as history. My english teacher said recently that cadets' recognition of various topics has awesome breadth, but their depth in any one area is rather pathetic. His comment prompted me to post this. I couldn't agree more with him.

The problem with core classes may only apply to the Academy - I know not the extent or level of insanity with which other public/private universities or colleges manage their core curriculum. As such, I will limit my criticism to USAFA until I investigate further or am enlightened by a friend.

I concede that some classes are beneficial to the continued learning during the transitions from high school to college and from college even further. Writing should be studied indefinitely. History also. And I see the benefit in studying the law. But the lust for surface-scratching courses in biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, math, engineering, aeronautics, civil engineering, electrical engineering, behavioral science (worthless on all levels), economics, management, and political science is beyond me. The 'Conditioners' would satisfy me more by saying it was another pointless hoop for me to jump through rather than actually expecting me (and the public) to believe there is inherent value. The sad truth is that my mind is writhing like a wild stallion to conquer the plains of an intellectual inheritance - but stifled by the concrete compounds of a 'conditioned' campus.

"The Conditioners, then, are to choose what kind of artificial Tao they will, for their own good reasons, produce in the Human race." Lewis The Abolition of Man

A Cold Night's Smoke

Born unto the hot red fiery embers of a life struck by match
amidst the crisp black – no blue, real breathing, true truth

The thick white-wisped vapor crawls, climbs forth, engulfed
by and by to intolerable truth, like a breath last let – silent, expecting, surrendered.

Like the pack decides the smoke, all life can be sequential.
It’s too tight, too loose, just right – and against the cold blue ageless Truth we fight.

Our blackened lungs strain to keep the burning hope alive while others
reap the benefits of time, patience, the 'habit of the mind.'

And stoking last coals conjures dull release, regret, remorse;
And seized, sense the rapid transition from sweet soul-winning bliss to gall, no less.
Panic – stoke, hope, logic, gall. Surrender.


I just finished editing this poem of mine a few minutes ago. I began writing it after a late night pipe-smoke out on the Terazzo last week. Sorry if it's a little hard to understand - hey, at least I get it. Also, 'habit of mind' comes from one John Henry Newman who wrote Idea of a University - I read it in Russell Kirk's book Redeeming the Time, so I don't really know much about Newman... yet.

A favorite quote explained

I've desired to elaborate on an amazing quote from CS Lewis for a while now. The quote in its entirety is "Even to see her walk across the room is a liberal education." Easily recognized as an adoration for "that special woman" in any man's life, the proclamation is witty, succinct, and curiously flattering. I'm convinced I have a grip on what Lewis wanted to convey. First, a little history on why CS Lewis wrote this.

It has not been proven without a doubt, but many people witness to a romantic love between Lewis and a close friend named Jane Moore. The line is pulled from a letter to an exceptionally close childhood friend, Arthur Greeves. I myself have not read the letter, but I assume the praise is of Moore, considering most evidence for his and her love come from these personal letters. Therefore, it's reasonable to say the quote is intended for a lover - specifically Lewis' Jane Moore.

The subject of the sentence is the woman walking across a room. Simple, yet alluring. Remember, the view is from the eyes of her lover. She's like an angel gracefully moving across the room - where? Who cares! I'm captivated by her beauty, her figure, her hair...

Now, the difficulty (and brilliance) of the quote comes from the predicate. Seeing her walk across the room is a liberal education. A liberal education? Author and popular campus figure Russell Kirk clarifies the mystifying term, "Our term 'liberal education' is far older than the use of the word 'liberal' as a term of politics. By 'liberal education' we mean an ordering and integrating of knowledge for the benefit of the free person - as contrasted with technical or professional schooling, now somewhat vaingloriously called 'career education.'" Political philospher Allan Bloom writes that liberal education in its purest form is the imagination and a passionate relationship to art and thought. Furthermore, dissected from Sir William Hamilton's Metaphysics is a concise definition of liberal education as "the perfection of man as an end."

With a true understanding of the purpose and role of a liberal education, contemplate the power of C.S. Lewis' quote - or more so, the power of the woman! I can't bring myself to even put it into the category of "compliments." To think, that the simple motion of a lover walking across a room, accomplishes in mere moments what years of schooling and mentoring may come close to doing for man. Every poem, piece of art, painfully deduced theorem, spiritual contemplation, pure beauty - all resolved in that room, at that moment.

Preface

Let this be an avenue for me to express my thoughts, criticisms, and/or commentaries on subjects in any of the realms of conservatism, christian apologetics, theology, culture, history, literature, music, politics, poetry and more which may inspire me to write. Please contribute your opinion if you are so moved. I want to invite conversation also. True conversation seems to be a lost art or utility where I'm educated. Enjoy... and thank you for reading.

Additionally, these views are my own and do not reflect those of any
insitition or organization.