From the Academy

KENT: You have that in your coun- tenance which I would fain call mas- ter. LEAR: What’s that? KENT: Authority. Peou CALIFORNIA, a resolute high- school freshman writes to me thus: “During a recent speech class we discussed Father James E. Groppi’s activities. To back up my point, I used your column about criminous clerks. My speech professor ques- tioned your qualification as an expert on Father Groppi, and the following day as an expert on anything… . I value your opinions and would ap- preciate a list of your qualifications as an expert.” Well, the au- thority and the expert are not the same person, oft- en. The twentieth- century “expert” usually is a spe- cialist, unqualified to judge of mat- ters outside his immediate field. But the true au- thority is one who knows much of the world, the flesh, and the devil –and, more important, of the per- manent things; he is able to sit in judgment because he has meditated deeply, talked with wise men, read innumerable good books, and ac- quired the virtue of prudence in its root sense. Kirk My CORRESPONDENT, Mr. Tim War- fel, refers to a column of mine about the priest who has been leading the unlawful marches in Milwaukee. (By a Milwaukee judge named Christ T. – Seraphim, Father Groppi is pro- nounced “a very evil man.”) I can- not qualify as a Groppi expert, nor do I know of any such: there is no Department of Groppi Studies, though perhaps one will be created by the Center for the Study of Dem- ocratic Institutions, with Mr. Dick Gregory as Groppi Professor. Con- ceivably Father Groppi’s mother is a Groppi expert, or even a Groppi au- thority. His bishop doesn’t seem to be either. “Who’s your authority?” is an an- cient ploy of quarter-educated domi- nies, prompt to put down any stu- FROM THE RUSSELL KIRK dent who has a mind of his own. Twentieth-century schoolmasters of this stamp are a particularly silly breed: some of them, proud of hav- ing obtained a pass degree in educa- tion from South Potawattomie State Teachers College, have: not read one important book in all their days. For them, there exists but one authority: the dominie’s ego. Dialogues with such petty tyrants of the classroom go much as follows:

Dominie: “The inheritance tax ought to be raised to

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Russell Kirk

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KENT: You have that in your coun- tenance which I would fain call mas- ter. LEAR: What’s that? KENT: Authority. Peou CALIFORNIA, a resolute high- school freshman writes to me thus: “During a recent speech class we discussed Father James E. Groppi’s activities. To back up my point, I used your column about criminous clerks. My speech professor ques- tioned your qualification as an expert on Father Groppi, and the following day as an expert on anything… . I value your opinions and would ap- preciate a list of your qualifications as an expert.” Well, the au- thority and the expert are not the same person, oft- en. The twentieth- century “expert” usually is a spe- cialist, unqualified to judge of mat- ters outside his immediate field. But the true au- thority is one who knows much of the world, the flesh, and the devil –and, more important, of the per- manent things; he is able to sit in judgment because he has meditated deeply, talked with wise men, read innumerable good books, and ac- quired the virtue of prudence in its root sense. Kirk My CORRESPONDENT, Mr. Tim War- fel, refers to a column of mine about the priest who has been leading the unlawful marches in Milwaukee. (By a Milwaukee judge named Christ T. – Seraphim, Father Groppi is pro- nounced “a very evil man.”) I can- not qualify as a Groppi expert, nor do I know of any such: there is no Department of Groppi Studies, though perhaps one will be created by the Center for the Study of Dem- ocratic Institutions, with Mr. Dick Gregory as Groppi Professor. Con- ceivably Father Groppi’s mother is a Groppi expert, or even a Groppi au- thority. His bishop doesn’t seem to be either. “Who’s your authority?” is an an- cient ploy of quarter-educated domi- nies, prompt to put down any stu- FROM THE RUSSELL KIRK dent who has a mind of his own. Twentieth-century schoolmasters of this stamp are a particularly silly breed: some of them, proud of hav- ing obtained a pass degree in educa- tion from South Potawattomie State Teachers College, have: not read one important book in all their days. For them, there exists but one authority: the dominie’s ego. Dialogues with such petty tyrants of the classroom go much as follows:

Dominie: “The inheritance tax ought to be raised to