Does anyone find it ironic that I begin a discussion of skeletons during Halloween season? Some have suggested that the topic should have frightened me away. A skeleton in the closet is a commonly used idiom, generally believed to represent a secret that the “ownerof the closet” would find unpleasant or harmful if it were made public. As with many common idioms, there is no consensus as to the origin of the term.
There is an 18th century legend about an English couple who were both so obnoxious that no one in their small town knew anything about them other than their names and in which house they lived. After years of arguing, the husband apparently reached the breaking point, and decided he had endured enough of the old hag. Hence he killed his wife, and to conceal his crime, he stuffed his wife’s body in a closet. In those few times when he did go out and was asked about why no one had seen his wife recently, he replied that his wife had left him and gone home to mama. The town’s people found this story plausible because everyone knew the couple had been arguing for years. Since the wife had been unpleasant to everyone, she had no friends in the town, thus, nobody tried to contact her since they didn’t know where her mother lived, and the wife’s disappearance was effectively ignored.
After many years the husband died. Since the couple didn’t have any children or any other close relatives, the husband willed all of his earthly possessions, including his home, to the church. This was a surprise to everyone including the vicar since the man seldom graced the door of the church. When the local vicar went to clean up the property and take possession of the house, he found the skeleton in the closet. It didn’t take long for the word about the skeleton to spread around the town. Everyone suspected the skeleton was that of the man’s former wife. The husband had kept this dark secret for many years, but eventually his actions became public knowledge.
I believe there are a number of skeletons in the closets of American liberal arts colleges. Some of these skeletons have been hidden since residential liberal arts colleges were first introduced to colonial America in the mid 16th century. Some skeletons predate American liberal arts colleges. Other skeletons have been introduced more recently. I am not saying that these skeletons represent crimes, but only information that is not generally well-known. I believe that this information should draw peoples’ attention to the questions of whether liberal arts colleges are what they claim to be and whether they do what they claim to do. In each of the series of postings that follow, I will discuss a skeleton, outlining when and by whom I believe the skeleton was deposited in the closet. I will also explain what impact I believe the skeleton has had and will have on American higher education.
Some of the skeletons I intend to expose include skeletons related to the definitions of liberal arts, liberal arts colleges and liberal arts education. Others are related to the origins of liberal arts colleges and education in America, the history and development of liberal arts colleges in America, the structures and governance of American liberal arts colleges. Some additional skeleton are related to the primary pedagogies and modalities of liberal arts education, and the demographics of liberal arts education. Other postings will focus on the issues of the mission, vision, and purpose of liberal arts education or colleges.
The first skeleton that I will address in the next posting is the definition of liberal arts.
Leave a Reply