Let's Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case for Liberal Education

by Jonathan Marks

Overview

A conservative college professor's compelling defense of liberal education

Not so long ago, conservative intellectuals such as William F. Buckley Jr. believed universities were worth fighting for. Today, conservatives seem more inclined to burn them down. In Let's Be Reasonable, conservative political theorist and professor Jonathan Marks finds in liberal education an antidote to this despair, arguing that the true purpose of college is to encourage people to be reasonable—and revealing why the health of our democracy is at stake.

Drawing on the ideas of John Locke and other thinkers, Marks presents the case for why, now more than ever, conservatives must not give up on higher education. He recognizes that professors and administrators frequently adopt the language and priorities of the left, but he explains why conservative nightmare visions of liberal persecution and indoctrination bear little resemblance to what actually goes on in college classrooms. Marks examines why advocates for liberal education struggle to offer a coherent defense of themselves against their conservative critics, and demonstrates why such a defense must rest on the cultivation of reason and of pride in being reasonable.

More than just a campus battlefield guide, Let's Be Reasonable recovers what is truly liberal about liberal education—the ability to reason for oneself and with others—and shows why the liberally educated person considers reason to be more than just a tool for scoring political points.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691193854
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	1,131,546
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Marks is professor of politics at Ursinus College and a blogger for Commentary magazine. He is the author of Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and has written on higher education for the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard. He lives in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Twitter @marksjo1

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter 1 Holding Harvard to Its Word 1

Chapter 2 Left, Right, Wrong 29

Chapter 3 The Importance of Being Reasonable 63

Chapter 4 Shaping Reasonable Students 113

Chapter 5 The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement: A Case Study 141

Conclusion Fighting for More of This, and Less of That 171

Notes 183

Index 209

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Jonathan Marks offers a compelling conservative case for liberal education. More important, he also gives us a reasonable and convincing case for liberal education. You don't have to be conservative—whatever that means these days—to admire this book."—William Kristol, editor-at-large, The Bulwark

"Wittily, and in the spirit of reasonableness his book champions, Jonathan Marks rekindles a higher education aspiration that has been too dormant: to cultivate citizens eager to found their judgments on more than passion or prejudice. Many fine books promote open inquiry, free speech, and robust discourse on campus. This book explores how we can inspire students to cherish and practice them, on campus and beyond."—Nadine Strossen, professor emerita, New York Law School, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union

"There is a role for politics in higher education, but it should not be one of enforced conformity. Jonathan Marks's witty and readable challenge to contemporary practices will not be welcome in all quarters, but that is exactly why it is important."—Cary Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, former president of the American Association of University Professors

"Let's Be Reasonable is sharp, concise, engaged, and, yes, funny. It's high time we saw a conservative plea for liberal education."—Jonathan Zimmerman, author of Too Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education

Editorial Reviews

2020-10-13
Why colleges and universities should cultivate reflection and analysis.

Marks, a political scientist, professor of politics, and blogger for the conservative magazine Commentary, is dismayed at criticism of liberal arts institutions coming especially from conservatives. Much as Allan Bloom did in The Closing of the American Mind, Marks, who has taught at private colleges, defends liberal education, aiming his book at readers “looking for an alternative to the despair that passes for realism in our understanding of the present and possible future of college.” He underscores the importance of teaching critical thinking, decrying the “bland and scattered justifications” that liberal arts colleges fashion to define their mission, instead offering another: “to cultivate in our students an experience of and a taste for reflecting on fundamental questions, for following arguments where they lead, and for shaping their thoughts and actions in accordance with what they can learn from those activities.” Drawing on such expected thinkers as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, John Dewey, and Robert Maynard Hutchins—and privileging a curriculum based on “the study of old books”—Marks posits that “the highest aim of liberal education is not a set of skills but a kind of person.” That person must be initiated into a community of individuals “who pride themselves on following the evidence and arguments where they lead, and who share at least provisional standards for evaluating evidence and arguments, even in matters that can’t be definitively settled.” The author discusses efforts by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement to enlist anti-Israel support among students as presenting just such an unsettled matter. With little knowledge of the complexities of Middle Eastern politics, students, Marks asserts, cannot reasonably evaluate the claims of any speaker “who aims at conversion”—at odds, he argues, with the university, “which aims at reflection.”

A thoughtful but not groundbreaking contribution to debates about the value of higher education.

Kirkus Reviews

One of The Wall Street Journal's Best of the February Bookshelf

From the Publisher

"Recommended."

Choice