Leadership Reflection for January 2015

January Leadership Reflection:

Leadership in Education

        As newly elected leaders take office this month at the state and federal levels, let’s pause to reflect on the relationship between leadership and education. All political leaders from across the ideological spectrum should be ardent supporters of education because educating the next generation ensures the continued growth of knowledge, economic development, and the stability of our emerging global civilization. As administrative professionals at the University of Illinois, we can also exercise leadership by supporting education – not only through donations to educational causes, but also (and most importantly) by encouraging and empowering students to achieve their academic and professional goals.

        Education is something that we shouldn’t try to box into a classroom or laboratory setting. Education is happening all around us, every day, and everywhere. There are opportunities to mentor our coworkers, both within formal and informal settings – and the Secretariat is a great place to begin! Opportunities to mentor students are also available through community-based and campus organizations, too, like the Illinois Leadership Center (http://leadership.illinois.edu), where I have served as a leadership coach for six years. My experience with mentoring four students through the process of completing their Leadership Certificates has been positive and uplifting – both for the students and for myself. I was delighted to take on my fifth “leadership apprentice” last month!

        To bring some historical perspective to the relationship between leadership and education, here’s an overview of the Carolingian Renaissance – a revolution in education that began in France twelve centuries ago under the reign of the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, who is widely regarded by historians as “Europe’s Founding Father.” To his academicians, we owe a great debt of gratitude for their zealous preservation of Classical Latin literature – including books on agriculture, history, medicine, philosophy, and science.

Charlemagne: Europe’s Founding Father

By Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867) [Public Domain]

Excerpted from Legends of Charlemagne (Chapter I, Part 2)

Reprinted from Cursus Honorum VI: 10 (May 2006)

        Charlemagne, or Charles the Great [ca. 742-814], succeeded his father, Pepin, on the throne in the year 768. This prince, though the hero of numerous romantic legends, appears greater in history than in fiction. Whether we regard him as a warrior or as a legislator, as a patron of learning or as the civilizer of a barbarous nation, he is entitled to our warmest admiration. At the height of his power, the French Empire extended over what we now call France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, and a great part of Italy.

        One of the greatest of modern historians, M. Guizot, has compared the glory of Charlemagne to a brilliant meteor, rising suddenly out of the darkness of barbarism to disappear no less suddenly in the darkness of feudalism. But the light of this meteor was not extinguished, and reviving civilization owed much that was permanently beneficial to the great Emperor of the Franks. His ruling hand is seen in the legislation of his time, as well as in the administration of the laws. He encouraged learning; he upheld the clergy, who were the only peaceful and intellectual class, against the encroaching and turbulent barons; he was an affectionate father and watched carefully over the education of his children, both sons and daughters.

        Of his encouragement of learning, we will give some particulars. He caused learned men to be brought from Italy and from other foreign countries to revive the public schools of France, which had been prostrated by the disorders of preceding times. He recompensed these learned men liberally and kept some of them near himself, honoring them with his friendship. Of these, the most celebrated is Alcuin [ca. 730-804], an Englishman, whose writings still remain and prove him to have been both a learned and a wise man. With the assistance of Alcuin and others like him, he founded an academy or royal school, which should have the direction of the studies of all the schools of the kingdom. Charlemagne himself was a member of this academy on equal terms with the rest. He attended its meetings and fulfilled all the duties of an academician.

Resources for Further Exploration

        Some of the best Internet resources dealing with Charlemagne include the following:

·  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_Renaissance -- This article provides a good introductory overview of the “Carolingian Renaissance” that grew out of Charlemagne’s educational reforms.

·        http://www.bartleby.com/183 -- The complete text of Thomas Bulfinch’s Legends of Charlemagne (1863) can be found here, along with links to some of Bulfinch’s other works.

·    http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html -- This is an English translation of the Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charles the Great) by Charlemagne’s first biographer, the royal historian Einhard.