Q&A with Peter W. Schramm,
the Ashbrook Center's Executive Director
 How long have you been at Ashland and at the Ashbrook Center? Eighteen very good years. I have the best job at Ashland University! I look after 100 first-class students, and I teach in one of the best political science departments in the country. I have great colleagues who are fine scholars and excellent teachers. We spend our time doing political philosophy and introducing our students to people like Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln. It is an exciting and friendly place that is always invigorating. The Center is full of energy and seriousness. We couldn’t get lazy here even if we wanted to because either the students or the faculty press one another on the critical questions relating to self-government.
How many faculty teach in the history and political science department at Ashland University? There are nine professors. In terms of students, I think the department is now one of the largest at Ashland University. The department is exceptionally good, arguably among the top 10 undergraduate political science departments in the country. The classes for students studying political science and history are incomparable. I recently had a conversation with a Harvard professor who was teaching some of the same books in his junior level classes that we teach in freshman level classes.
The quality of the Ashbrook Scholar program is directly related to the quality of the political science and history faculty. These professors are wonderful teachers and first-class scholars who breathe new life into the study of things that would, at other universities, seem to be dry-as-dust.
Are there other programs like this at other colleges and universities? No, not to my knowledge. I don’t think there is anything like the Ashbrook program anywhere else, although there are some that look similar, for example at Princeton, Hillsdale, Grove City or Louisville. None of these programs, however, focus on the principles of civil and religious liberty and civic education the way we do, and frankly, their students aren’t as good. Some have tried to imitate us, but we are unique. We are not imitable in part because we are such a unique part of Ashland University; we are responsible for running our own affairs as well as raising our own funds to support our many programs.
How has the Ashbrook Center changed over the years? The Ashbrook Center has expanded dramatically in size and scope. The Center has grown from an organization with a strong local and state identity to one of national reach and influence. The public visibility of the Ashbrook Center was built initially on events and speaking engagements that featured well-known public leaders. Our speaking events are now a small component of the Center’s many programs.
The Ashbrook Center’s educational programs have been the source of the Center’s greatest growth. These programs have an aim and audience that extend nationwide. The Center has taken the national lead in providing educational programs that seek to teach the meaning and significance of America through civic education, emphasizing the study of America’s founding principles and constitutional government.
Why is the Ashbrook Center prospering? We have achieved a national reputation as the leader in history and civics education. We attract the best students and utilize the finest faculty both from the History and Political Science Department at Ashland University and from universities across the nation. Our programs are well administered, and Ashbrook faculty and staff dedicate a great amount of time and energy to the success of our programs and to individual students. This dedication, coupled with a comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes reading original historical texts and documents, makes the impressive character of the Ashbrook Center immediately apparent to our students. And the seriousness, respect and honesty that characterize everything we do form the foundation for a community of colleagues and friends among students, faculty and staff.
What do you see as the future of the Ashbrook Center? We will continue to get even better, and also bigger. The Ashbrook Center is poised to continue to grow in ways that will reshape the way history, civics and politics are taught nationwide. The Center’s activities will emphasize our many educational programs for high school teachers, undergraduate college students and high school students.
We will continue to seek fine students, both for our undergraduate and graduate programs, from all around the country. We will continue to use only the best professors and continue to have a very large presence on the internet. The work of the Center will become ever more national in scope, helping Ashland University attain national preeminence in the teaching of the principles upon which our nation was founded.
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Member Organization.
More than half of college seniors surveyed in the study could not identify the correct century when the first American colony was established at Jamestown. And 55.4 percent of students could not recognize Yorktown as the battle that brought the American Revolution to an end (28 percent thought the Civil War battle at Gettysburg was the correct answer). Fewer than half of students recognized "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," is from the Declaration of Independence. This problem stems, in part, from a lack of middle and high school teachers who have received a proper education in the subjects they teach. Today, mastery of the subject content is no longer considered essential, and future teachers typically take more courses emphasizing educational techniques and methodology than they do courses on content in the subject areas they will teach.
The current picture of civic education in America is disheartening, but not hopeless. While some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the United States are falling short of the mark, the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University is renewing the foundations of civic education in America by reinvigorating the serious study of the principles of American liberty and self-government.
