An Introduction to Montana Classical College

A New Institution in a Time of Trouble

(the view from Montana Classical College)

In Adam Ellwanger’s recent piece for American Mind, he argued that the Right needs to take back the university. He notes a number of disturbing trends; to make a long story short, the average university has moved so far Left that any semblance of an education that deserves the name is now nearly impossible to find. This state of affairs is one that has been long anticipated and well documented by observers as different as William F. Buckley, Allan Bloom, and Jonathan Haidt, to name only a few. Hundreds if not thousands have taken up the pen to shine a spotlight on the all too common grotesque absurdities perpetrated by colleges all over the country (just a tiny smattering: here, here, here, here, etc.).

College students find themselves bombarded by loudly shouted and utterly confused platitudes concerning race, sex, history, and almost everything else important—in sum, they are being asked to turn away from the quest to understand human nature. They are shoehorned into speaking with ideologically charged terms that presuppose far too much and they are asked to deny what they can see with their own eyes. Their only access to reality, a careful examination of speeches and deeds, is being pulled out from under them.

The consequences of this outcome are nothing less than devastating. Harry Jaffa describes what is at stake if university professors become corrupted in his Crisis of the House Divided:

“I was aware that I was member of that comparatively small class, the university professoriate, that today is the decisive source of the ruling opinions in our country. Primary and secondary teachers, the mass media, and the elected officials are usually the retailers of ideas that come in the first place from the universities, and in particular from the graduate schools. Here is where the teachers of the teachers are taught. We have become the ultimate source of change in the regime” (pg 10, emphasis added).

The ultimate source of change in the regime. This nicely anticipates things Curtis Yarvin says in Unqualified Reservations when he notes that universities seem more like theological institutions than anything else, and that whatever students are learning at Harvard now, will be what “respectable” Americans will all be thinking 20 years from now (and the pace of this has only accelerated in recent years).

So, many of us are able to say what is wrong, and yet, these words have failed to stop the encroaching evil that has beset our country and much of the Western world. What, then, is Ellwanger’s response to all of this? A strongly worded petition.

Certainly it is to Ellwanger’s credit that he is willing to fight, but it is too little, too late for such a piecemeal reform to save our educational institutions. It is time for something new.

Without doubt, exceptional teachers of the first rank still exist within the belly of the beast. These teachers are rare and most students will float through the mire and never discover them. These teachers are like a plank of wood out at sea after a shipwreck. They can help save your life—but you are still out at sea. What if instead, we build a college from the ground up that could weather the tempests and take its sailors, together, to somewhere beautiful and good? That is to say, a mission aligned institution where even the janitors must buy into what is happening at the college; where everyone agrees about what counts for an education; where everyone understands how dire our situation is and is ready to fight to make it better.

Founding a new, if relatively small, institution provides a physical location where talented people can gather to pool their strength and abilities. As an isolated individual, it can be demoralizing to see how our regime looks; but surrounded by men who seek extension, that seek to transcend their current state, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

This new institution has to be “activist.” Many will say—“Wait, wasn’t it the Left turning the university into an activist institution that ruined them in the first place?” Suffice it to say that neutrality isn’t an option anymore. Great books programs all over the country are being eliminated and if not eliminated, then diluted. There is immense institutional pressure against these kinds of programs. A college that supports them must be constituted from the ground up to support them. And, reading and thinking is not enough. Montana Classical College students will be physically fit. There will be classes and mandatory morning activities devoted to fitness. Furthermore, practical skills like woodworking, sailing, and digital visualization will be offered. The MCC student must be ready to bring order to the world so that its beauty and goodness is not cut off from us by a tyranny that threatens to be perpetual and universal. This can be done in many ways, whether through the creation of media, joining local government, running scouting organizations, or many other possibilities that will be discussed in these pages. MCC students will be ready to take up these tasks.

(for an early attempt at producing an outline of a curriculum and the original rationale for the college see this article from 2019; our first course syllabus is here; learn how to sign up for a course and hear thoughts on accreditation here).

The founding of Montana Classical College is a deed intended to support noble action, the understanding of nature, and the protection of the nation state which makes both of these high human activities possible. It takes only a hundred men with such an untimely education to fight against the noisy pseudo-education of our time.

So, how do we go from 0 to 1?

1)    Write reviews of contemporary books in order to increasingly grasp the dire character of the present situation.

2)    Write essays about heroes and thinkers of the first rank in order to inspire others to embark on their own quests for noble deeds and to understand the world as it is.

3)    Launch formal online courses. Some will focus on key themes in liberal education (broadly understood) and others will focus on more practical skills.

4)    Launch a young adult summer program devoted to discussing great books and promoting fitness/survival skills.

5)    Continue to learn more about how to run a brick and mortar institution and make connections with the kind of people who have funds that can make this venture possible.

Come join us.