By Stephen Smoot
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey gave great fanfare to the creation of the Washington Center For Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship after its establishment was mandated in the 2025 session of the West Virginia State Legislature
A year later, some journalists have gleefully pointed out that the center has exactly one student, making this an example of a laudable idea that has not thus far been well-executed.
Professor Patrick Lee Miller, with primary academic expertise in philosophy, came over from Duquesne University to head up the effort of building a center from scratch.
Without delving into what Dr. Miller has done thus far, here is how one makes such a program successful.
First, do not make any of the materials “anti” anything.
Focus on the great aspects of Western Civilization much more than analyzing the tired and trite tropes invented in this century against it. For the 3,000 or more years that the West has had a defined civilization, it has gone broader and deeper in more fields than any other. Along the way, in both voluntary and, admittedly, involuntary ways, the West has shared the best of its thought and applied science and uplifted everyone with whom it made contact.
The United States itself has shown itself among the best that the West has produced, alongside the Roman Republic and the British Empire. Students should learn what makes the American “City on a Hill” worth the world’s examination.
Second, work done through the center must apply to a solid slate of potential employment outcomes.
West Virginia University sits about three and a half hours away from Washington DC. In and around the nation’s capital sit endless numbers of public policy issue advocacy organizations. The Center should be forging relationships with those that offer internships of substance, such as Young America’s Foundation and its project, National Journalism Center (full disclosure, I ran the academic programs of NJC for three years.) Internships and job opportunities can also come through friendly congressional offices.
Some will simply enjoy the opportunity to learn from a different perspective but most, especially among conservatives, will ask the question “how will this help me to get a job?”
Subjects taught should include a judicious mix of the intellectual and of the applied. History, Religion, Philosophy, Economics, and Literature form a foundation of advanced knowledge that give those who study it seriously an advantage. The Center can teach how to apply that knowledge in the fields of public policy, teaching, journalism, and other fields. It should work to place students in hands-on experiences at every opportunity, paid if possible.
The effort is needed because the West is worth it. Critics focus on the elements of violence and intolerance over Western history and pointedly ignore the overwhelming positive impacts.
Teaching the history or culture of any nation should focus on its positive impacts in history. Every real and established nation in history has much more to its credit than debits. Germany had a thousand years of advancing culture and history before National Socialism. The soul of Russia is much more than Lenin, Stalin, or Putin.
And the United States in a short 250 years has done more good around the world for more people in more places than any other nation ever. No other country has worked for the interests of others and against its own for the greater good to the extent of the United States.
And the fact that the nation has decided to focus on itself and its own people for a change should not lead to cries of injustice and murder.
Any academic that disputes that the United States has served in that global role should be regarded with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, a swarm of Leftist ideologues hold too many positions in all aspects of the American education system and has warped this truth in teaching and writing.
And this has led to another reason why this Center is so potentially valuable. Never has the system of American higher education been held in lower esteem. It has used federalization of student loans to gouge its customers who believed the veiled threat made for so many years that those who don’t go to college won’t advance in life.
As it charged more and more, the value of the product declined. Too many courses on silly and foolish topics. Too much time gaslighting American students into thinking they are the bad guys. Too much emphasis on shoe horning in ideas, such as Socialism, that have no legitimate application in reality. Now the average four-year college degree has less value than an associates degree, much less than a trades education.
The last role of the Center might be its most valuable. As America has served as a city on the hill for the world, the Center should serve as one for the broader West Virginia University community. Teach the legacy and impact of the West with confidence, without apology or explanation. Teach about the warts, of course, but understand that warts only occupy a small part of the total surface of the body.
Don’t grimly teach why the other side is wrong. Teach why the West is a great and profound civilization and that understanding will follow.
