St. John's College

St. John's College, Annapolis, is a horse of a different color. I had known it as the "great books" college. I had not visited before. We had a fine long discussion with two enthusiastic students, one introvert and one extrovert. This is a good combination -- I recommend it to all admissions offices.

St. John's is for people who seriously want to understand the Great Conversation. It has no sports, no Greeks, none of the trappings of college life which can become so important to students who are not at college primarily to deeply engage ideas. The whole curriculum is really a long and detailed philosophy seminar.

From the pounds of college mailings I got when I was in high school, the only one I remember was from St. John's. It was entitled: "College as Paradise." I was sorely tempted. In the end, I chose Swarthmore because I was very interested in contemporary politics.

Endub is ... thinking about it. She really liked the seriousness, and the close community. She does, though, want to make a difference in this world, and is still unclear on how the Johnnies make the connection. This one may take a second round.

One of the most intriguing things that both young men said, in answer to my daughter's question, "Who should not come to St. John's?" was "people who are intellectually arrogant." They said this very diffidently and humbly. They told the story of someone who dropped out of St. John's after one term. He had already concluded that he hated Aristotle, and Aristotle had nothing to teach him. He also objected to the tutor's (not "professor's") insistence that he go back to the text to see what Aristotle himself said. Instead, the disgruntled student wanted answers now. The two admissions workers were taken aback at the idea that one could come right out of high school, begin to learn Greek, start to read Aristotle, and conclude that you could already know enough about him to know that Aristotle had nothing to teach. I admire their humility in the face of such a challenge.

Haverford

Haverford is an excellent liberal arts college. It is also the arch-rival of my alma mater, so I am obliged to look askance at it. Nonetheless, I have to admit that it is an excellent liberal arts college. It has a restrained beauty, a strong Quaker tradition of reaching common understanding, and a honor code culture that is deeply embedded in student life. The plain stone Pennsylvania architecture is deep in the Gruntleds pre-verbal understanding of what true beauty is.

As the great sociologist E. Digby Baltzell argued years ago in Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, Quaker culture militates against individual superiority over others. This was confirmed, indirectly, by Haverford's unusual motto: Non doctior, sed meliore doctrina imbutus, which roughly translates, "Not more learned, but steeped in a better learning."

Endub will give it another look.

Lafayette

Lafayette College looks pretty good to us. Endub will be back for another look in the fall.

My background is Quaker, but Mrs. G. and I are both Presbyterian now. We both went to Swarthmore, a Quaker-founded school, and now live happily amidst Centre, a Presbyterian-founded school. Child #1 is now at Swarthmore.

What has been interesting to see in Endub's search is that, after sifting many fine colleges all around the country, she kept being drawn to the Presbyterian and Quaker institutions. It was that insight that led us to give a hard look at Lafayette in the first place. Lafayette has historically been connected with the Presbyterian Church, though the tie is very loose these days. She is somewhat liberal, but wants to have a diverse world to talk to. Lafayette is liberal the way most liberal arts colleges are. Our tour guide, though, a nice young woman named Amanda, said that the healthy dose of engineers kept the student body more balanced. This sounds like a good thing.

So the search continues. But Endub is minding her Ps and Qs.

Bucknell

We are on the great college hunt for child #2, the wonderful Endub. Today we visited Bucknell. It is a very nice little university -- a biggish college of 3000+, heavy on engineering and business, with a few graduate programs. Lewisburg, PA is a lovely little town. One interesting feature of their pitch: they want the well-rounded student. Most places that we have visited set themselves up against the Other Places that want the well-rounded student, whereas College of the Day is for unique individuals who can develop their quirkiness. I thought the college of well-rounded students was a straw man, but I was wrong. And it is a good thing that in the great ecology of American higher education there are such places.

They also talked about how small they are. Since this is the largest institution that we are likely to look at -- two or three times the size of the liberal arts colleges on our list -- this was an enlightening self-conception.

Bucknell University is a fine place. It was a bit weak in the visual arts, and not quite ideal for the Christian bohemian that we have raised, but a quite good place.

How Many Callings Can I Have?

Under postmodern conditions, it is hard for young people to believe that God has a calling for their lives. The hard part is not that God has a calling, but rather that God has a calling -- just one -- for your whole life.

This reflection is the fruit of a conference on "Re-Forming Ministry." We have been charged by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to think about how to support pastors in congregations today. We have spent some time on thinking about the meaning of God's call, and whether we need to rethink the church's traditional conception under changed conditions today.

I am mostly skeptical of any postmodernism, but I have come to believe that we have begun to enter a condition of postmodernity. One consequence of this change for the church is that the notion of one fixed calling for life is hard to believe, and worth reconsidering. The Reformed notion of a calling for each believer still shows its roots in the medieval Catholic notion of a calling for priests, monks, and nuns to a special ontological status. Yet the rest of Reformed practice treats our calling not so much as a change in our essence as it is a particular task that God has commissioned us to do.

It is a short step from thinking about the call as a commission, to think about a call as one commission, which may be followed by other, different commissions.

The advantage of thinking about a call as a commission is that it allows for changing from one big job to another without seeing that change as a failure. Many seminarians have turned to ministry as a second career. One of the intriguing ideas to come from this meeting for me is to think that ministry might be a first career, which could legitimately be followed by a second calling to a second career. And so on.

I am still chewing on this idea. Your comments are most welcome.

My Demon Project

I am spending my weekend with a high-powered group of Presbyterian ministers and church officials. One of our number wanted to describe what she had done for the Doctor of Ministry degree, usually called the D. Min.

What we all heard her say, though, was "What I did for my demon project."

Upper-Middle Brow Porn

A tiny movement is afoot to create a higher class of porn.

Some Harvard undergraduates have created a new magazine, H-Bomb, which they say is a "magazine about sex" without being just pages and pages of pornography.

New Republic editor Britt Peterson wrote about "Porn with a Silver Spoon." She writes that in the "alt-porn" movement "the smut itself is becoming more upper-middle-class: urbane, ironic, self-aware, and intellectually as well as sexually titillating." As an example of this, she cites a film in which she appears as an extra, which contains a "cum blanket" scene. "The scene with the cum blanket, for example, ... exaggerates the traditional cum shot to the point of subversive absurdity."

Oh, great, just what we need.

Now, I don't think pornography ranks very high on the list of things you shouldn't do. I think it is a fair assumption that every man you know, and most of the boys, look at is from time to time. Kiddie porn, of course, is evil. Porn addiction is bad the way all addictions are bad. Mostly, though, porn is bad because it is kind of a waste of time, time spent on the most animal kind of sex that could instead be devoted to real human love.

Still, I think the attempt to create upper-middle brow porn (which is about as high as the genre can go) will fail. The market is too small and the options too limited, and the temptation to sink back into the tried and true will be too strong. Alt-porn sounds like just another temptation to liberals to think they are smarter and more sophisticated than traditional people.

Loving v. Virginia

This is the 40th anniversary of the great Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down state laws against racially mixed marriage.

The Court made three arguments against the Virginia statute:
1) State marriage laws must comply with federal constitutional norms;
2) The statute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because it only prohibited mixed marriages involving white people;
3) The Due Process protection of the Constitution means that the state can only violate a basic right if state has a compelling interest in doing so. Keeping the races separate was not, the Court ruled, something Virginia was compelled to do in the basic institution of marriage.

The Loving decision was necessary -- but dangerous.

As a centrist, I welcome the federalist principle that states should make laws suited to the custom and culture of their distinctive people. This is why the federal takeover of any area of state law is dangerous.

On the other hand, I have long thought that anti-black racism is the original sin of America, and it has introduced more misery in our practice and more irrationality in our law than other mistake we ever made. If we had not had whole states that embedded anti-black racism deep in their laws, even their constitutions, we would not have had a civil war, and we would not have needed to hugely expand federal power. This is why Loving v. Virginia was necessary.

Are Men and Women Hardwired for Altruism the Same Way?

The Washington Post has a fascinating story on new brain research suggesting that our altruistic responses come from the deep old emotional centers of the brain, rather than the newer rational calculation parts.

Other well-known research has shown that women are more likely to use their whole brain in reasoning, whereas men are more likely to use one part or another. Women are more likely to incorporate their emotional responses in their reasoning, whereas men are more likely to separate "cold" reason from their emotions. And everyone knows that men are more likely to commit crimes than women are.

SO, putting these facts together, perhaps men and women have a similar altruistic emotional response to the plight of others, based on empathy. And men and women also make rational calculations about how their self-interest would be served by acting altruistically versus selfishly, even to the point of harming others for my own gain. The difference is that women are more likely to act with a response that tries to integrate the two competing responses, whereas men are more likely to choose one over another. And thus men are more likely to choose a response that suppresses their empathy for others.

Just a first theory. This research on the deep roots of altruism, though, is important and very interesting.

Silver Anniversary

Mrs. G. and I were married 25 years ago today.

I surprised her with a permanent sign over our front door.

Vote in Honor of a Veteran

I have a button that announces that I am voting in honor of a veteran -- my father. My wife has one in honor of her father. We wore them on primary day. They were created by the Secretary of State's office in a nifty program called, helpfully, Vote in Honor of a Veteran. It has been hugely popular in the commonwealth. They made 10,000 in responses to citizen requests in the first week, and the county clerks ran out. They are making more for the general election.

Honoring veterans by voting seems like a good subject to contemplate on Memorial Day.

If You Don't Accept the Rules for Ministers, Don't Apply to Be One

Mission Presbytery, in San Antonio, TX, had accepted a woman as a candidate for ministry even though she told the presbytery she was a lesbian in a committed relationship. The presbytery declared that the well-known rule barring practicing homosexuals from the ordained ministry did not apply to candidates for ministry, and voted to accept her as a candidate, 169 - 111. On appeal, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, the church's top court, ruled that a practicing lesbian can't be a candidate for ordination, for the same reason that she can't eventually be ordained.

This is another case of those who disagree with the church's rule playing brinksmanship to see what they can get away with. It does not matter what the rule is, this is the wrong way to change the church.

Hegelajara

As my post-Commencement treat, I have been working my way through Hegel's Philosophy of Right. This is pretty hard, so I asked some smart colleagues to recommend some secondary works to read along with it. I proposed that when I was done, Ken, Ken, Jason ("mind if we call you Ken?") and I could all sit down at Guadalajara, our fine local Mexican restaurant, for a wide-ranging discussion.

"A Hegelajara!" one of the Ken's said. Quite right.

Hegel: Marriage is the Most Immense Contradiction

Now that the urgent daily business of the school term is over, I have time for some richer brain food. I have been reading Hegel's The Philosophy of Right, especially the section on the family. Hegel's core concern is that we become free by making our will actual in the world. Yet marital love, he says, is "the most immense contradiction; the understanding cannot resolve it" (§ 158) because we individually choose to give up our individuality. We use our individual free will to sacrifice our individual free will, to become one with another person. Yet this is not a foolish loss, but the path to our true freedom. And the fulfillment of our choice for two to become one is realized in our children. This is a real poser for Hegel, a mystery for his philosophy. He does not shrink from it, but rather makes family life, and the civil society made of families and dissolved families, the foundations of ethical life.

Marriage is a mystery. It is, I think, the most fundamental of all human mysteries.

Gilmore Girls Finale: Luke In, Logan Out

So, I got it half right at the end of "Gilmore Girls." I predicted in February that the Gilmore Girls, mother and daughter, would choose poor Luke and rich Logan, respectively. The series ended with Luke going all out to take care of Lorelei. Though no future plan was settled, marriage is likely. Logan did in fact propose to Rory, but she turned him down in order to find herself. At the end she got a job writing about Barak Obama, rathering than marrying her college love and moving across the continent.

This is a sensible ending. Rory is young, and doesn't have to marry now. I thought it was a mistake to tie her so specifically to an event of this moment (the Obama campaign), which will probably not age very well. Still, I wish they had written her a better speech than simply "I'm too young to decide this now, can't we wait?" Logan sensibly replied, "What's the point?"

I will miss the "Gilmore Girls," both in itself and as a bonding activity with the women of my household. They like "Grey's Anatomy," as most young women do, but I can't get into it (or even stand it, actually). The writers have stuck all the characters except one (Dr. Bailey) in perpetual adolescence.

Perhaps Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of "Gilmore Girls," and Aaron Sorkin, the creator of "The West Wing," could write a show together about fast-talking, witty people with real work and strong marriages.

Family Issues That Affect College Students

We finished the term last week, and I just got the evaluations of the family life course. Most of the comments suggest that students liked the course, loved the subject, and learned a great deal. The first part of the course, the "all about me" section, covered sex differences in mate selection, gender differences in communication, and the advantages of marriage. In the second part we explored some of the main sources of variation in families, especially divorce and unwed motherhood. Only one comment bothered me:

I thought the first part was more interesting than the second part. I feel like more time could have been spent on things directly affecting us as college students rather than divorce and single parents.

I have been trying to put my finger on what bothers me about this view. Part of the problem is the sheer obliviousness that the comment betrays, since about a quarter of the students in the class were children of divorce, and one was about to become an unwed mother (though I believe the course convinced her to marry, after all). More trying, though, is the unconcern it suggests about the rest of the world beyond the great privilege of being a healthy young college student with no responsibilities and no disasters. The last third of the course is devoted to moving from the micro picture of my family to the macro picture of how the whole array of families shapes this country. Our last book, James Q. Wilson's The Marriage Problem, is devoted to this subject. Wilson's argument is that the decline of marriage in some sectors undermines everyone's marriages, and creates the seedbeds of all social problems.

So which family issues affect college students? Ultimately, all of them.

Join the Political Elite: Vote in the Primary

Today is primary election day in Kentucky. The secretary of state is predicting a 15% turnout. This means that your vote counts for six.

This election is important to you even if you don't live in Kentucky. The commonwealth is one of only three states to elect its governor the year before the presidential election. The Kentucky governor's race is, therefore, often an early test of the general mood of the electorate. This year we have an unpopular and not-so-competent Republican governor heading a scandal-plagued administration. How bad is it? His own lieutenant governor refused to run with him, a former congresswoman is running against him in the primary with a serious chance to force a runoff, and half the leading Republican officials tried to get the governor not to seek re-election.

On my side of the aisle, the crowded field is coming down to The Turncoat, a rich businessman who backed the now-disgraced Republican in the governor's race last time, versus the strongest ticket of real Democratic officials, to see who could win in the fall.

This primary election is also a milestone in the Gruntled household. Child #2, the wonderful Endub, figured out that since she will be of age by the general election in the fall, she can vote in the primary now. She then went through the high school registering every other member of her class who will be of voting age by November. We will vote a little later in the day, and wear our I Voted stickers proudly.

With the rest of the political elite.

Most of the Little Bast -- Um, Children of Unwed Parents -- Have Dad at Home

Most of the children of unwed parents -- bastards in the technical sense -- born in America in this century came home to both parents. This is a significant change from a generation ago, according to the Child Trends study, when less than a third of unwed births were to cohabiting couples.

We celebrate silver linings at the GC, and the silver lining is that more children of unwed parents will have both parents and two incomes at home when they come home from the hospital. The dark cloud, though, is that cohabiters are likely to break up, kid or no kid.

The most educated people are increasingly likely to marry. The least educated people are decreasingly likely to marry. The front line in the marriage struggle is for those in the middle. Couples with some education, jobs, and a baby are exactly the people who should marry, and usually do marry. We need to win their hearts and minds to improve the marriage culture of the United States. And to give the little bastards -- in the most respectful and affectionate sense -- a better chance.

Centre Commencement 2007

Today was a glorious conclusion to a fine year.

My colleague Rick Axtell opened the day with a fine baccalaureate sermon on "Babel." The punchline: you are graduating to a life of service. You may be heading to the top of society, but the true view of how the world works is the view from the bottom. Commencement speaker Tim Russert concluded the day with a complementary message: to whom much is given, much will be expected. A solid, coherent, and moral message.

(OK, one story from Tim Russert.
He said his favorite "Meet the Press" was this. In the '92 election, he had Ross Perot on the show.
Russert: "Mr. Perot, you have said that the deficit is the most important problem facing America. Now that you are candidate for president what is your proposal to solve the problem?"
Perot: "What?"
Russert repeats the question.
Perot: "If I had known you were going to ask trick questions, I never would have come on the show!"

Later, Russert got on a plane.
A flight attendant asked him, "What did you think of Ross Perot?"
Russert: "I never comment on guests. But what did you think of Ross Perot?"
Flight attendant: "I think he is the kind of guy who would refuse to put his tray in the upright and locked position.")

An excellent year. Now on to the summer!

LOLCATS

My daughter, the wonderful Endub, introduced me to LOLcats last night. They are very silly captioned cat pictures. We laughed ourselves sick.

The emerging convention of this, um, artform, have given the cats a very peculiar grammar, as suggested by the site from which this example comes, I Can Has Cheezburger.

This is what the internet was created for.