Programs, News & Events:

The Institute Extends its Internet Presence: Facebook and Renovo

The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education is now on Facebook! Visit our page to keep up on timely articles and resources, as well as Institute events.

Director Andrew Seeley has joined Renovo, the blog of the Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education. Read his posts several times a week, along with other insightful writers. Visit http://blog.catholichighered.org/.

Hansen Fellowships for High School Teachers

Catholic High School Teachers and Administrators have a unique opportunity to attend the four-day Acton University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Acton University is a unique, four-day exploration of the intellectual foundations of a free society. Guided by a distinguished, international faculty, Acton University is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge and integrate rigorous philosophy, Christian theology and sound economics.

Acton has a small number of Hansen fellowships available, which cover lodging, meals, conference fees, a travel scholarship and a $300 honorarium to attend Acton University June 15-18, 2010.

For more information on this year´s Acton University and the registration form, please visit www.acton.org/actonu. To apply for the scholarship, please contact:

Kara Eagle,
Education Initiatives Manager
, Acton Institute,
161 Ottawa NW, Ste. 301
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

616.454.3080

Fax 616.454.9454

Wall Street Journal on Liberal Education

Excerpts from "Why Liberal Education Matters" by Peter Berkowitz, Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2010:

So science and math education is a mixed bag, resources are not the problem, and reform is very much in the national interest. But science and math education reform begins with the reform of liberal education, of which it is a part.

Liberal education supposes that while individual rights are shared equally by all, the responsible exercise of those rights is an achievement that depends on cultivating the mind. Reading, writing and arithmetic are the basics that free societies rightly hold parents responsible for ensuring that their children master. Many of these children live productive and satisfying lives with the knowledge and training they acquire by the time they graduate from high school. Still, the liberal education to which our colleges and universities pay lip service represents the culmination of a citizen's preparation for freedom...

How can one think independently about what kind of life to live without acquiring familiarity with the ideas about happiness and misery, exaltation and despair, nobility and baseness that study of literature, philosophy and religion bring to life? How can one pass reasoned judgment on public policy if one is ignorant of the principles of constitutional government, the operation of the market, the impact of society on perception and belief and, not least, the competing opinions about justice to which democracy in America is heir?

Click here to read the complete article.