Russell Kirk, a conservative academic, argued in his essay “Cultural Debris” that civilizations are held together by moral and intellectual principles rather than force of arms. For the West, those principles are exemplified by its canon, which is a complex tapestry woven from historical and philosophical threads. However, the state of the modern university has undermined the purpose of education proper. Kirk believed that the university’s shift away from the liberal arts and towards “career education” was detrimental to the study of Western civilization. Unfortunately, as of 2020, only 17 percent of American universities require students to learn Western Civ. This shift has failed, and it has all but killed the humanities.
The University of Florida’s new program for civics education, the Hamilton Center, aims to address this issue. With $13 million in total funding, the center is part of Florida’s infusion of higher education with traditional Western values. Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed adding Western Civ to the core curriculum for all Florida college students, and the new center will aid in developing this new curriculum.
Studying Western civilization is necessary because it is the source of the modern world and our inheritance. Maintaining continuity between generations requires a common foundation to build upon, both in material and philosophical terms. Handing down the history and literature that defines the West is necessary for the maintenance of civilization itself.
Universities should place Western Civ studies at the center of their curriculum because it is good and necessary for the university to do so. The original Western universities were erected to educate priests and monks, and the belief in God resided at their center. The demise of the metaphysical soul of the academy has produced institutions that hold a decidedly mechanical and utilitarian worldview. By their very nature, universities require foundational dogmas, and if those dogmas are not rooted in the civilization the university exists in, the dogmas will tear away at the spirit of the university itself.
The Hamilton Center has a daunting challenge before it, but for the sake of the academy and the West itself, it must weave these subtle threads back into the academy’s soul. Modern public universities can be the home to the dogmas of the West, and for their sake, they should be.
