CATEGORY: EDUCATION (22 min)

Learning the hard way

What’s the purpose of higher education in America? Should it be to give students the practical skills they need to succeed in a modern workplace? Or should it focus on turning young men and women into traditionally learned and enlightened individuals?

It doesn’t matter which answer you think is right, says Alexander Zubatov in The American Conservative. American universities are failing miserably at both purposes.

Not only have colleges ignored their historical purposes, Zubatov argues, but they have also created a host of negative effects for our nation. They help develop an indoctrinated elite that furthers the political and social divide between Americans.

On top of that, college degrees have become an almost indispensable asset for students looking to enter the workforce, so there’s no escaping their biased programming.

What can be done to solve this problem? Zubatov believes an extreme step is necessary—one that would uproot everything you know about American higher ed. Find out his plan here.

CATEGORY: CULTURE (5 min)

Childish things

America’s recent economic struggles have not stopped certain sectors from booming. The pandemic drove many people to order various goods that they could use at home. One surprising beneficiary of this period was children’s toys—except this time, the buyers were adults.

John Horvat, in The Imaginative Conservative, explains this strange phenomenon by pointing out trends beyond the pandemic. Horvat argues that adult entitlement and overindulgence have led people to return to the toys they played with as children.

This seemingly innocuous revelation may highlight significant issues with American culture, Horvat warns. He argues that these adults have turned themselves into a new type of person: a “kidult.”

“Kidults reverse [the] process of maturity by thrusting themselves back into a world that is no longer theirs,” Horvat writes.

Horvat is not saying that playing with a children’s toy automatically strips adulthood from someone over the age of 18. Rather, he believes that overindulgence in the fantasies of youth will generate bad habits in people whom God has created to be mature.

Discover more of Horvat’s analysis here.

Titans of Industry or Crony Capitalists?

Everyday Americans participate in the marketplace without questioning the structure that they have inherited. Recently, however, that structure has been challenged by Left and Right alike, and the inheritance has been questioned as being “corrupt“ and “oppressive.“

Is that the case? With Pittsburgh as a historically important city of industry in American history—pumping out names like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick—join us as we ask the following questions:

• Who are the Crony Capitalists of America’s past and present, and are they suppressing open competition in a free market?
• Are the many state privileges garnered by Crony Capitalists a threat to a flourishing and free American economy?
• Who are the Titans of Industry or “robber barons” of America’s past and present?
• Does their industrial success “trickle down” over to the American people at large, or does it simply pad their own wallets?

Join some of today’s most brilliant minds in Pittsburgh from November 18-20 to discuss and debate which approach to economics best serves the American interest.

Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.
 

CATEGORY: CHILDHOOD (5 min)

Growing up too fast

Many of those adults who are now buying childish toys can trace their issues back to their own youth. One would imagine that they never took advantage of the true adventure that childhood should bring, instead falling prey to the mindless entertainment available to today’s Americans.

In our Intercollegiate Review archive, Anthony Esolen poetically recalls the greatest aspects of a classic American childhood. He details the games schoolchildren invented, the songs they sang, and the instruments they played. He lovingly crafts the picture of an American youth that has sadly fallen by the wayside.

Gone are the days of Hide and Seek or Cops and Robbers; here instead are Netflix and Instagram.

Esolen ultimately concludes that the simplest joys of youth—exploring the outdoors, trading various cards and coins, playing time-tested games, and many more—were what gave us the sensation of feeling alive. He argues they even instilled basic virtues in each child who partook in them.

Read more of Esolen’s ode to a simpler time right here.

Who We Are, What We Do

Too many college students feel isolated or attacked for questioning the ever-narrowing range of debate on campus.

We introduce you to the American tradition of liberty and to a vibrant community of students and scholars so that you get the collegiate experience you hunger for.