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Dubious Truth
What would Mencken say about Hillsdale
students?
Susannah Luthi
Author's
note: A few weeks ago, as our class was studying the (in)famous
20th century journalist and satirist H.L. Mencken, the words
seemed to begin fitting themselves into a sweeping criticism
of aspects of the Hillsdale student life and morale. And as
this criticism was sharp, it left some indelible impressions,
set out in the notes below. The author is not responsible for
Mencken's opinions.
Hillsdale College
seals its encapsulations of Truth, Beauty and Liberty into bronze
statues of men and eagles, which seem to multiply according
to the theory that there is a correlation between the number
of statues and the amount of virtue on campus. But however bright
the inspiration behind the statues, it was not illuminating
enough to reach into the depths of Virtue, so-called, and reveal
Truth, Beauty and Liberty.
What is Truth to the students
at Hillsdale College? It is a principle constantly touted by
the vocally idealistic student, who cuts a ridiculous figure
in the eyes of his more balanced peers. Yet he does not seem
to mind his ridiculous figure, rather bragging and blustering
so incessantly that if he actually had the combined virtues
of Socrates, the Cid and the Twelve Apostles, he would still
go beyond the facts, and so appear a mere Bombastes Furioso.
And the definition of this Truth
is certainly not clear: It seems to be a conglomeration of Aristotle,
Plato, the Bible and the Declaration of Independence, and the
ideal student is expected to embrace it and go out into the
world to defend it.
Unfortunately, this student's
ability to defend it seems to depend on his entrance into graduate
or law school; and should he not be admitted (in which case
the fault is only his status as an Anglo-Saxon male), he consoles
himself by philosophizing about 16th century Spain and pointing
out to the admiring girls around him that he is in fact still
superior to the business majors, and that his life will be the
better for being fruitless.
And as for these admiring girls,
though they themselves are model students and not shut out from
the revelation of Truth, and though they have rid themselves,
very largely, of the absolute need to please men, they have
not yet rid themselves of the impulse to please men, in this
case by agreeing with the reflections on 16th century Spain.
The Hillsdale student's explanation
of Beauty is even more puzzling, especially since he does not
pursue its representations with an open mind. Elegance, esprit,
culture? Hillsdale has little art, no novelists; and though
there is a small theater and a small gallery of pictures, few
talk of such things. No one seems interested in them, and when
there is interest, there is no thought or discussion regarding
their development or progress.
This is largely due to our admirable
student: What the college wants is not an infinitely brilliant
student, but an infinitely "solid" one, which is to
say, one bound to the community irretrievably by the chains
of normalcy. It would delight this campus to see him get to
the White House, for a man headed to the White House is policed
as relentlessly as an archbishop.
But it would give many people
disquiet to see him develop into a Goethe or a Wagner. And therefore
our student-though willing enough to discourse on Plato's view
of beauty, albeit in an orthodox way-remains cautious and never
ventures far enough into the wilderness to receive the divine
afflatus. Thus, there is little drawing of blood and wringing
of the soul; and if Beauty depends upon these things, it must
then be lacking.
The question of Liberty remains,
and it is one that perhaps is most puzzling of all. Hillsdale
students themselves have very little liberty of the conventional
kind. Dormitory living is defined by strict rules; policemen
roam the campus streets as if on call; and peer pressure forbids
students' straying from the paths of normalcy.
Yet at the same time, true Liberty
seems to be the ultimate Virtue to our Hillsdale student. To
him, Liberty is certainly not a liberal expanding of the mind;
he develops his opinions from the firm foundations of Aristotle,
Plato, the
Bible and the Declaration of Independence. These opinions allow
him to govern himself-that is, to order his life according to
their precepts, and to shut out the bothersome ideas of others
(he can avoid Woolf, Freud and Martha Graham with impunity).
Since every one around him is
cultivating the same ideas, he is confident that he is correct
and that he is a fulfilled human being prepared to challenge
the world's muddled leaders. Whether his Liberty permits him
to do this once he is out in the world is another question.
And so, though the professors
seek to offer glimpses into the Art Eternal, the college community
remains narrow and barren, for the ability to see into this
art is a taste that simply cannot be implanted. Either it is
born in a man or it is not born in him.
Thus, the claim that Truth, Beauty
and Liberty flourish among Hillsdale students is a dubious one.
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