ollege?”
Seniors, surely sick of this question, often answer with “grad school.”
Probe more deeply, and more answers unravel: pending applications, scheduled visits, varied fields, and elusive scholarships. The self-assured, curiosity-quelling answer of “grad school” quickly gives way to nebulous details prefaced with “maybe,” “potentially,” “I hope,” and “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” From this swirling, chaotic cloud of uncertainty, a pillar of light brilliantly shining forth from a city on a hill must arise.
Upon that luminous hill is Hillsdale College.
Or, for those who don’t speak English major, Hillsdale College should expand its graduate program. It would benefit the school, its own students, and people from around the nation in their pursuit of truth.
First, look at the school. It already offers a graduate program in “statesmanship,” providing the Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics. This program appeals to Hillsdale’s reputation as a bastion of political conservatism and personal liberty. If they listen to the advertisements, few can doubt the school’s ability to teach political theory and proper application of it. However, not to the disparagement of the current program, it would behoove Hillsdale College to offer graduate programs in other fields, for both practical and ideological reasons. Having more products to offer in the free market is rarely a bad thing, and appealing to graduate students with multiple interests can only benefit the school in terms of revenue, publicity, and esteem. On a less pragmatic but more important level (with apologies to econ majors), it would further the mission of “Pursuing Truth” espoused by the college. We can pursue truth in virtually any academic field, including politics. The more subjects taught at an advanced level by Hillsdale’s stupendous faculty, the better.
Second, consider the students already attending Hillsdale. Amidst jokes about failing classes just to stay an extra semester lies a nugget of truth: students love Hillsdale College. If Hillsdale expanded its graduate program, those fifth-year seniors that crop up every year could be graduate students instead, working toward advanced degrees at their familiar campus. The crippling angst of enrolling in a new place of learning with strange students and faculty would disappear. No repeat of freshman year. And that annoying question of after-college plans would be so much easier to dismiss.
Third, ponder potential students who did not attend Hillsdale. There are pursuers of truth, about to graduate from their respective schools, looking for a place that shares and cultivates their vision of learning and self-improvement. Hillsdale’s graduate program would be an opportunity to reach those people and provide them an avenue for their aspirations. The goal of creating virtuous and well-rounded people would reach even more than the 1,400 or so undergraduates that already inhabit Hillsdale. The college can offer its lofty vision to those who perhaps missed the opportunity and would benefit from it on the graduate level. They would flock to Hillsdale, and not just because Rush Limbaugh told them to.
Of course, this exhortation cannot expect instant fulfillment, as expanding the graduate program would take Hillsdale College copious amounts of time and resources. Nor is it a self-serving proposal (your humble author doesn’t even plan on grad school). And sure, some students will recoil at the idea of prolonging the Hillsdale bubble. But it is worth looking to the future and to the potential improvement of more people in more ways. The vision of liberal arts is one that goes beyond academic life, but it also takes root in study. Thus, Hillsdale College should seek to increase its edifying influence.
So, what is Hillsdale College going to do after college? Hopefully, more of what it does best.
