Whatsoever Things Are True

Wilfred M. McClay on the Philosophy of Education of Aristotle & Paul

This essay is adapted from the author's commencement address to graduates of Hillsdale Academy, a K–12 school run by Hillsdale College in Michigan, on June 6, 2021.

It's a joy to celebrate your graduation from an institution whose very existence stands against the tides of transience, an institution that embodies so well the sentiments expressed in a famous passage from Paul's Epistle to the Philippians in the New Testament. You already know the words, but it's worth quoting the entire passage:

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Wilfred M. McClay holds the SunTrust Chair of Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and is the author of The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America (North Carolina) and A Student's Guide to U.S. History (ISI Books). He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

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