On the 11th of September 2001 I was in the second week of running a new K-12 charter school in Colorado. It was an extremely busy, difficult, and rewarding time. As I was making sure the morning traffic flow was going smoothly, parents told me they had seen airplanes crash into the twin towers. Unlike many school principals that day, I did not make any school-wide announcements (we had no P.A. system). Rather, I wanted the day to be as close to normal or routine as can be the case in the second week of a start-up school. Nor at that moment did I know what to say. The following Monday I placed the essay below in the school newsletter. It was my attempt to express the important truth that the courses and books and lessons we ought to be teaching in school serve a higher purpose than getting students into college, or teaching “critical thinking skills,” or making young people employable—as important as those subsidiary aims may be. The true purpose of education is to teach young people to understand, to love, and to defend civilization. And it was civilization that came under attack on September 11th, 2001.
The Principal’s Perspective
On Monday night the 10th of September I was preparing my lecture on the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. In trying to describe the emotional response on the part of Roman citizens throughout the Empire to the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in A.D. 410, all I could come up with was an unimaginable analogy. “It would be like a foreign power today taking New York or Washington hostage.” By the time I had to deliver that lecture the next day, this scenario seemed hardly so unimaginable. This was no prophecy on my part. The last thing on my mind when I went to bed Monday night was the possibility of an enemy strike on this nation’s public buildings and civilian population.
There is not much that a busy schoolmaster can add to the news and commentary that have followed in the wake of these criminal atrocities. Nonetheless, events of such magnitude will or should affect education, just as they will alter the ways in which we Americans travel, preserve our national security, and, perhaps, live our lives. The early responses on the part of educators were probably not the best. Throughout the nation schools rushed in therapists to make sure that young children were not traumatized by the destruction of the World Trade Center, which they may or may not have seen on television. Principals and teachers took up class time to keep students up to date or to make sweeping pronouncements on what all this means for the nation. These panic attacks are understandable since the nation stood aghast and really did not know how to react. But the measure of how effectively America responds to the ominous challenge of terrorism will be determined over the long haul. The best thing schools can do for the nation is to prepare young people for the positions of responsibility they will assume in the world. We must do so by telling them honestly what sort of world it is and by cultivating in them the knowledge and the virtues necessary to maintain it. In the aftermath of 11 September, we can say a few modest things about this world.
First of all, this is not a world in which nations and empires endure when they grow complacent. Edward Gibbon began his monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in terms that recaptured the [unfounded] confidence of Imperial Rome:
In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury.
What Gibbon described was quite simply luxury at home and “globalization” abroad. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. That confidence remained for another three centuries until just before the Fall. In one chilling phrase, Gibbon points to the dangers of Roman complacency: “The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and the number of their enemies.” Compare that to Henry Kissinger’s words from just this week: “For a decade, democracies have progressively fallen prey to the illusion that threats from abroad have disappeared . . .”
Second, our world remains one of ideas and ideals. The terrorist attacks of last week were not performed without reason. Rather, radical Islamic forces (which is not to say all of Islam) hate America and the progress of Western Civilization. Liberty, individualism, freedom of religion, prosperity, all are thought to be the enemies of Allah that must be destroyed at all costs. As I visited the various classes at Ridgeview this last week I realized anew how important are the subjects we are teaching: American history, Western Civilization, economics, science, mathematics, classical literature. These are our guides to the making of our civilization, a civilization that a few million very dangerous men now want to destroy. In these classes I see many students who very much enjoy learning these subjects. Yet I also see students who are disengaged. I hope these latter students will learn to take what we are teaching seriously. Certainly our enemies do.
Finally, the students of today are the citizens and soldiers of tomorrow. Citizenship and military service are responsibilities that have fallen out of fashion lately. This is not to say that they cannot be revived, even instantaneously. The bravery of rescue workers in New York was astounding. The nation will no doubt respond with massive donations of both money and blood. Yet the military ventures of the last decade have required little in the way of citizenship or soldiery. People have calmly watched war on CNN. The new kind of war will certainly require more resolve and higher levels of citizenship. For in this war civilians are the targets. The enemy may already be behind our lines of defense. And it will quite likely be not an all-out war of a few years, but a sustained operation of decades, much like the Cold War. What sort of courage, what sort of patriotism will be required of our young people in the years to come? I hope Ridgeview Classical Schools will fortify their minds and spirits for the challenges ahead.
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Feb '11
Re: Education as the Defense of Civilization: The Meaning of September 11th for Schools and Colleges
I must say that, reading your comments to the parents in the school newsletter, I am struck by the contrast between them and the "Where was I when the Trade Centers were attacked" variety. In your essay, the long view and the long term are ascendant, whereas most people's reflections are very self centered and of-the-moment. Thank you for sharing.
Edited on Sep 12, 2011 at 2:39amAug '10
Re: Education as the Defense of Civilization: The Meaning of September 11th for Schools and Colleges
Boy, that's well said. I wish more principals thought like that, but I suspect few do. It seems like most educators these days see the purpose of "education" as overthrowing civilization as it currently exists, not preserving it.