The Way a Conference is Supposed to Be

This last weekend, I was at the Philadelphia Society's Fall Regional meeting in Indianapolis. (The Philadelphia Society is an organization of conservative intellectuals.) It was a great conference--the organizers put together a superb list of talks.

The highlights (in the order they presented):

1. Peter Wood is the author of a really interesting book on Diversity, in which he shows how that construct has been manufactured within the Academy. He is now taking on the next big craze in Academia--Sustainability. That term too has no real meaning, but schools across the country are using the phrase to justify all sorts of the usual Leftist policies. (My favorite useless activity that for some reason makes people feel virtuous--getting rid of trays in dining halls.) It sounds like he is at work on a book about this--it's sure to be good.

2. Thor Halvorssen, formerly at FIRE, now at the Human Rights Foundation, argued that the problem in the Academy these days is the overwhelmingly Leftist tilt of the faculty (one conservative on the faculty at Mount Holyoke would be a good example of that, I suppose) and tried to persuade everyone that all the attempts to fix the academy won't matter unless the number of conservative faculty rises. He argues that will take money. The argument sounds nice, but it isn't clear to me how this will happen.

3. The panel on the Economics of Education explained why the proposal in 2 will run into problems. This panel was overwhelmingly negative about the academy, arguing that it is a fairly hopeless institution. Insofar as this is the argument that Conservatives make about Colleges, it is hard to see how many conservative students will be persuaded to become professors.

4. Steve Ealy from the Liberty Fund gave an interesting talk an the importance of conversation as a means of learning.

5. James Bowman gave a great talk arguing that the internet is dumbing us all down because it is removing our ability to have the patience to read sustained arguments. We jump from thing to thing so quickly these days that we have lost the power (and practice) of concentration. I suspect he is right. You can read his talk at:
http://jamesbowman.net/diaryDetail.asp?hpID=329
And, by the way, Bowman's book Honor: A History is fantastic--if you are looking for a book recommendation, read it.

6. Charles Murray gave, as always, a highly thought-provoking talk. Murray never ceases to amaze. His talk was based on his latest book Real Education (also well-worth reading--then again every Charles Murray book is well-worth reading). The talk argues that there is an increasing problem in America today of an entire generation which has grown up having two highly educated and intelligent parents who have raised their kids in an intellectual bubble. One effect of this bubble is that the generation has no idea a) what the majority of the population is like and b) how goods are actually generated. Having gone to high-schools in which the IQ of the worst students is above the national average for IQ and having never held a regular job in which actual work is required, this generation has no idea how people work and build a business. Murray argues that it is very important for the highly educated, high IQ parents to live in areas with a cross-section of humanity and to make their kids get regular jobs. That book had a rather practical outcome--Emma is now looking for a job--a menial labor job. (We already live in the sort of town Murray describes--Granby is fantastic in this respect. I am afraid all my colleagues who live in Amherst are not doing as well.)

That's just the highlights--most of the other speakers were also worth hearing. Great job by the organizers.