January 8, 2025
The Education of the Ambitious Soul
Shilo Brooks
Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and Lecturer in the Department of Politics
The Education of the Ambitious Soul
Shilo Brooks
Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and Lecturer in the Department of Politics
Minutes of the 13th Meeting of the 83rd Year
President George Bustin called the meeting to order; Frances Slade led the invocation. One hundred thirty members and guests attended the meeting. Members introduced their guests: Marlaine Lockheed – Steve and Olivia Frakt; John Kelsey – Bob Paulson. An engaging reading of the minutes from the previous meeting was delivered by Joan Fleming.
Shilo Brooks was introduced by Henry Von Kohorn. Dr. Brooks shared the literary derivation of his first name and utilized it to lay the groundwork of the overall importance of reading. He shared additional insights into the statistics that demonstrated the rise of the popularity of his course, The Education of the Ambitious Soul, including comparison to other highly attended courses, only one other of which (Children’s Literature) was also an elective course. The course was entirely of his design as the department gave him free rein in the development of the course. With that as background, Dr. Brooks dug into the process by which he came up with the design and content of the course.
He started with the question of “what should the topic of the course be” in order to resonate with Princeton student? Knowing them to be highly ambitious and intelligent, he focused on “how ambitious students should be educated.” It also quickly became apparent that he was going to use the thoughts of great persons in history to guide his thinking and approach throughout. The first quote he used was from Alexis de Tocqueville: “What is to be most feared, it seems to me, is that the spark and grandeur of ambition might be swallowed up by the ceaseless petty occupations of private life.” So, the course must challenge and ignite the ambition of his students.
Next, he considered how the ambitious might be best educated and what should be their reading habits. Again, he turned to the thoughts of ambitious people in history, drawing from Churchill: “It is a great pity to read a book too soon in life… Young people should be careful in their reading, as old people eating their food. They should not eat too much. They should chew it well.” So, a manageable reading list with quality thoughts, appropriate for the students’ point in their life’s journey, became the goal.
Dr. Brooks’ next question to ponder was the spirit in which students should read, yet again turning to ambitious persons in history to inform his efforts. Here he turned to Frederick Douglass, who recalled the slave owner’s admonition to the mistress of the house who was teaching Mr. Douglass the alphabet: “If you teach that ****(unspeakable word) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Mr. Douglass began his pathway to freedom by learning to read. Dr. Brooks’ desire for his students is that reading the right works will similarly help them expand or free their minds.
Moving on from the reading habits and spirit, Dr. Brooks still needed to decide what to read. And yes, he turned to ambitious people in history for advice: Theodore Roosevelt, Sandra Day O’Connor, Machiavelli. He also drew on his own experience from undergraduate studies at St. John’s College, where the program of study effectively incorporates The Great Books of the Western World as the core of its curriculum. Voila. Shilo Brooks’ new course, designed by ambitious people channeled through Dr. Brooks was formed with a carefully digestible reading list, comprised of diversity of view and background, which will challenge the thoughts and perceptions of the readers, requiring them to carefully chew their intellectual meal. The books:
· The Education of Cyrus (Xenophon)
· The Prince (Machiavelli)
· Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
· The Strenuous Life (Roosevelt)
· Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
· Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass
· Lazy B (O’Connor)
· The Majesty of the Law (O’Connor)
Dr. Brooks’ respect for the great minds of history and his own humility in fulfilling a role where he could help those greats guide and instruct his students was a joy to behold and resulted in an outstanding, illuminating, and engaging talk.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Loizeaux, First year member
Shilo Brooks was introduced by Henry Von Kohorn. Dr. Brooks shared the literary derivation of his first name and utilized it to lay the groundwork of the overall importance of reading. He shared additional insights into the statistics that demonstrated the rise of the popularity of his course, The Education of the Ambitious Soul, including comparison to other highly attended courses, only one other of which (Children’s Literature) was also an elective course. The course was entirely of his design as the department gave him free rein in the development of the course. With that as background, Dr. Brooks dug into the process by which he came up with the design and content of the course.
He started with the question of “what should the topic of the course be” in order to resonate with Princeton student? Knowing them to be highly ambitious and intelligent, he focused on “how ambitious students should be educated.” It also quickly became apparent that he was going to use the thoughts of great persons in history to guide his thinking and approach throughout. The first quote he used was from Alexis de Tocqueville: “What is to be most feared, it seems to me, is that the spark and grandeur of ambition might be swallowed up by the ceaseless petty occupations of private life.” So, the course must challenge and ignite the ambition of his students.
Next, he considered how the ambitious might be best educated and what should be their reading habits. Again, he turned to the thoughts of ambitious people in history, drawing from Churchill: “It is a great pity to read a book too soon in life… Young people should be careful in their reading, as old people eating their food. They should not eat too much. They should chew it well.” So, a manageable reading list with quality thoughts, appropriate for the students’ point in their life’s journey, became the goal.
Dr. Brooks’ next question to ponder was the spirit in which students should read, yet again turning to ambitious persons in history to inform his efforts. Here he turned to Frederick Douglass, who recalled the slave owner’s admonition to the mistress of the house who was teaching Mr. Douglass the alphabet: “If you teach that ****(unspeakable word) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Mr. Douglass began his pathway to freedom by learning to read. Dr. Brooks’ desire for his students is that reading the right works will similarly help them expand or free their minds.
Moving on from the reading habits and spirit, Dr. Brooks still needed to decide what to read. And yes, he turned to ambitious people in history for advice: Theodore Roosevelt, Sandra Day O’Connor, Machiavelli. He also drew on his own experience from undergraduate studies at St. John’s College, where the program of study effectively incorporates The Great Books of the Western World as the core of its curriculum. Voila. Shilo Brooks’ new course, designed by ambitious people channeled through Dr. Brooks was formed with a carefully digestible reading list, comprised of diversity of view and background, which will challenge the thoughts and perceptions of the readers, requiring them to carefully chew their intellectual meal. The books:
· The Education of Cyrus (Xenophon)
· The Prince (Machiavelli)
· Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
· The Strenuous Life (Roosevelt)
· Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
· Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass
· Lazy B (O’Connor)
· The Majesty of the Law (O’Connor)
Dr. Brooks’ respect for the great minds of history and his own humility in fulfilling a role where he could help those greats guide and instruct his students was a joy to behold and resulted in an outstanding, illuminating, and engaging talk.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Loizeaux, First year member