In just a few short weeks, the members of the Class of 2021 will cross the stage at graduation. The path that our lives take after graduation will be different for each person. Some will leave Hillsdale en route to their dream job in a big city. Some will be off to law or graduate school. And others, through choice or circumstance, will be returning home.
Unfortunately, we have been conditioned to believe that those in the latter category have not achieved their fullest potential when compared to those who use their graduation from college to leave their home far behind. In many ways, this is an idea we have been indoctrinated with. Wendell Berry writes in his novel “Hannah Coulter,” “The big idea of education, from first to last, is the idea of a better place. Not a better place where you are, because you want it to be better and have been in school and learned to make it better, but a better place somewhere else. In order to move up, you have got to move on.” It is this idea that leads students to not even consider the opportunities that exist in their hometown, in their place.
Attending Hillsdale College has been a blessing for me. A fantastic education surrounded by great people and strong resources has allowed me to grow as a person throughout my four years here. The blessing that Hillsdale has been to my life, however, started before my enrollment at the college. I was fortunate to grow up in a community that believed in me and supported me — and I am certain that I am not alone among my classmates in this.
Having recognized the blessings that come from our homes, we should not be so quick to instantly reject our place as “beneath us” upon graduation. In many cases, we have received financial support from institutions in our community to pursue our Hillsdale education. This financial support should be viewed as an investment in us. An investment in the hopes that, following the four years at an exceptional educational institution, we will use our experience to make an impact on the community that has given to us. That was the point that Berry strove to make, a point that the title character of his novel only came to realize when she watched all of her children go to college and never return.
The choice to return home after graduation should not be treated with scorn. Instead, it should be celebrated. By returning home, your impact will be felt and seen by the people that truly matter, not masses of strangers. In that way, you can give back and improve your community, building and solidifying the foundation that will then be able to give countless other children the opportunity to receive the quality of education that you got. This, in fact, is the true purpose of education.
In the essay “Education and Home Defense,” Berry writes, “Education in the true sense, of course, is an enablement to serve — both the living human community in its natural household or neighborhood and the precious cultural possessions that the living community inherits or should inherit.” The emphasis throughout education should not be on moving up and away, but rather choosing to invest in your community.
Hillsdale College does a great job of promoting servant leadership in the local Hillsdale community through the GOAL program and other great opportunities. As we approach the end of our time at Hillsdale, it is on each of us to recognize that our servant leadership must continue beyond our four years here. The opportunities we have been given should spark each of us to give back to the communities that have supported us throughout our lives so far, and we should not be discouraged or ashamed to return home and serve.
Connor Kaeb is a senior George Washington Fellow studying politics.