Higher education is in upheaval, and a wave of "micro colleges" is reimagining undergraduate formation. Matthew Smith, co-founder and president of Hildegard College in Costa Mesa, California, joins Mark Labberton to talk about a tiny school marrying the Great Books to redemptive entrepreneurship.

"We need young adults who are coming out of college who are failure resilient."

In this episode, Smith reflects on the demographic cliff, the limits of professionalized majors, and why eighteen-year-olds need formation before a career. Together they discuss higher ed innovation, redemptive entrepreneurship, beauty as a public good, and what employers really want.

Episode Highlights

"We need young adults who are coming out of college who are failure resilient."

"Most of these schools are endeavoring at least to promise a fruitful career … leaving behind what most 18 to 23 year olds actually need."

"I would warn people away from universities that cannot clearly answer the question, what will all students learn at your school?"

"First you need to seek what's true and good, what's worthy of being loved. Then you need to be formed into the kind of person that loves it. And then finally, the natural outlet of that is creation."

"If there's a problem, they figure it out. They're not just asking their computers what the answer is."

About Matthew Smith

Matthew J. Smith is the founding president of Hildegard College, a Christian liberal arts micro college in Costa Mesa, California. He holds a PhD in Literature from USC, and taught for fifteen years at Azusa Pacific University before founding Hildegard College. His scholarship covers Shakespeare, John Milton, John Donne, and George Herbert; he has authored or edited four books on early modern literature and religion, and is working on a new book on beauty.

Helpful Links and Resources

Hildegard College https://www.hildegard.college Praxis on Redemptive Entrepreneurship https://www.praxis.co/redemptive-entrepreneurship St. John's College https://www.sjc.edu Literature and Religious Experience, by Matthew J. Smith https://www.amazon.com/Literature-Religious-Experience-Beyond-Unbelief/dp/1350193917

Show Notes

• Higher ed in flux
• "It's the economy that's driving disruptive innovation in higher education right now."
• The demographic cliff and small private colleges
• Job readiness vs. personal transformation
• "Leaving behind what 18 to 23 year olds actually need … becoming wise and faithful adults."
• From English professor to college founder
• Discovering micro colleges through classical K–12 schooling
• Trivium, quadrivium, democratic liberal education
• Visiting startup colleges in 2018; tuition often $10K–$15K
• "A shared vision of the end of learning"
• Hildegard's founding: liberal arts plus entrepreneurial arts
• Hildegard of Bingen, polymath patron
• Borrowing redemptive entrepreneurship from Praxis
• Beauty as antidote to weaponized truth and goodness
• Foundations of Thought + Entrepreneur Lab
• Real campaigns, real ventures—not test answers
• Field trips: Portland and El Salvador
• "We need young adults … who are failure resilient."
• Limits of pure classicism at St. John's, Thomas Aquinas
• "I loved my college, but I wish they would've taught us how to do something."
• Startup speed: idea Thursday, launching next Thursday
• "What will all students learn at your school?"
• Why Smith stopped believing in the English major
• Employers want teachability and adaptability
• "First you need to seek … then to be formed … then creation."
• Intellectual confidence and humility together

#HigherEducation #ClassicalEducation #LiberalArts #MicroCollege #ChristianHigherEd #RedemptiveEntrepreneurship #GreatBooks #HildegardCollege

Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.