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The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour

Mark Kalthoff on the Purpose of a Liberal Education

The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour

Hillsdale College

Education

4.8650 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week's guests: Mark Kalthoff, Barry Strauss,…

Transcript

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0:00.0

From the historic campus of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the good, the true, and the beautiful are taught, nurtured, and honored, this is the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, bringing the activity and education of the college to listeners across the country.

0:25.1

Part of a liberal education is to teach students that actually there are some things that are true,

0:30.2

and they're not true just because you believe them, and there are other things that are beautiful,

0:34.0

and there are things that are ugly, and you might mistake those. So one part of education is coming to recognize beauty, truth, and goodness.

0:41.3

This is your host, Scott Bertram.

0:43.6

And that's Dr. Mark Kaltoff.

0:45.3

He is chairman and professor of history at Hillsdale College, also dean of faculty.

0:50.6

We talk today as the school year begins for both K-12 students and college students across the country

0:56.0

about a recent lecture that Dr. Kaltof gave on the subject of learning. Dr. Mark Kaltov, thanks so much for

1:02.8

joining us. Happy to be here, Scott. Thanks. Wanted to talk to you about a lecture that you delivered to our

1:08.8

freshman class this past year at Hillsdale College on learning.

1:13.6

It's a wonderful lecture.

1:16.6

Right near the start though, you say life is short, be serious about it.

1:21.6

How could a student, how should a student be serious about his education?

1:26.6

That's a great question.

1:28.3

I talk with my own students about this often on the first or second day of every semester.

1:33.3

I try to distinguish for them the difference between a student and a pupil.

1:36.3

The word student comes from a Latin root.

1:39.3

The word is studio, which means to be keen or zealous for a thing. So a student, if they're truly a student,

1:48.5

doesn't have to be prodded to study, doesn't have to be cajoled or cudgled into it. Instead,

1:54.9

I'd tell them a story about one of my sons who, now he's a grown man, but when he was a little

1:59.0

child, he was a big fan of the

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