On April 18, 2011, Judge John Heyburn joined the McConnell Scholars to discuss to the third and final portion of The Education of Henry Adams. Judge Heyburn received his Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University and his J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law. Heyburn serves a federal judge for the United States District Court in the Western District of Kentucky. He has also worked on several committees for the Judicial Conference of the United States.
Judge Heyburn began the seminar by reviewing the notes from his original reading of The Education of Henry Adams. Since his time as an undergraduate, Heyburn kept a book journal. The journal allowed him to elaborate and reflect on the books he read, capturing a snapshot of his thinking. The judge explained that he started the journal to supplement his education. This desire to improve one’s education fit well with the discussion of Henry Adams. Adams lamented throughout the work that his eighteenth-century education failed to prepare him for the transforming world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Judge Heyburn and the scholars explored methods of continuing and adapting one’s education to the requirements of the present.
Heyburn also encouraged the scholars to elaborate on a few of Henry Adams’s political aphorisms. The scholars discussed the importance of political forces and the ability of individuals to ride and channel those forces. Political success requires a combination of person and context. Different skills and personality traits contribute to the rise or decline of certain people under certain conditions. The scholars also focused on humanity’s desire to create order and how cultural changes have altered that pursuit of order.
Judge Heyburn’s visit emphasized the value of continued education. The judge recommended that the scholars take the time to reflect on their education, how it is serving them, and how they might improve it.
Judge Heyburn began the seminar by reviewing the notes from his original reading of The Education of Henry Adams. Since his time as an undergraduate, Heyburn kept a book journal. The journal allowed him to elaborate and reflect on the books he read, capturing a snapshot of his thinking. The judge explained that he started the journal to supplement his education. This desire to improve one’s education fit well with the discussion of Henry Adams. Adams lamented throughout the work that his eighteenth-century education failed to prepare him for the transforming world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Judge Heyburn and the scholars explored methods of continuing and adapting one’s education to the requirements of the present.
Heyburn also encouraged the scholars to elaborate on a few of Henry Adams’s political aphorisms. The scholars discussed the importance of political forces and the ability of individuals to ride and channel those forces. Political success requires a combination of person and context. Different skills and personality traits contribute to the rise or decline of certain people under certain conditions. The scholars also focused on humanity’s desire to create order and how cultural changes have altered that pursuit of order.
Judge Heyburn’s visit emphasized the value of continued education. The judge recommended that the scholars take the time to reflect on their education, how it is serving them, and how they might improve it.