Photo courtesy of Jim Brooks ’66.
repeatedly do,” and Harvard philosopher William James and his seminal essay (and speech) in the early 1900s entitled The Moral Equivalent of War. William James was a pacifist, yet he understood that there were certain virtues our society needed that, unfortunately it seems, only can be honed in the context of war. He suggested a utopian vision in which our country would find other ways to ensure that young men would learn the ideals associated with militarism. During the two decades surrounding James’ speech, hundreds of military schools were established – Culver among them — partly as a response to his clarion call for some formal instruction in the ideals and virtues that sober young Americans in preparation for service to their society and the Republic. These encouragements, in partnership with the teachings of Thomas Dewey’s experiential learning theory — and the pride Americans had in the truly American approach to education exemplified at our military colleges — resulted in the popularity of military schools (450 of them) in the United States at that time. Now I had a mission. I now sought more operational guidance. Enter the CEF Board of Trustees. Another piece of advice my lieutenant colonel friend gave me was to choose a school that had a board that would challenge and mentor me … one with whom I could partner. He reminded me that if I found myself working with a mediocre board, I would be frustrated, bored, and difficult to work with. I needed to be both inspired and taught. First, I needed to learn everything about what had made and still was making Culver great. Then I needed people working with and guiding me to be leaders themselves. Culver’s Board of Trustees provided the perfect opportunity for me. You were the people who welcomed us warmly, tolerated my certainty, and
For 17 years John Buxton embraced Culver, and The Culver Educational Foundation trustees embraced him. With Buxton at the CEF trustee dinner in May are, left to right, Trustee Emeritus Jim Dicke W’59, ’64 and trustees Craig Duchossois ’62, and Jim Brooks ’66.
led us graciously. You were always respectful and helpful and kind. Who could not succeed with such support? Your example was leader/philanthropist/volunteer; and it impressed us and clearly raised our game. Just as no virtue is a virtue by itself; no leader is a successful leader without great team members. You were that team for us. Why was this so important to us? We could see how much you loved this school, and we committed ourselves to doing whatever we could to help make and keep Culver great. I knew that if we were not moving this institution forward, we were moving backward. We owed it to you and to this special school to move it forward. I then remembered my first three encounters with military prep schools and realized what they had misunderstood: First, we could not take quality time from hard-working cadets and ask them to walk mindlessly around a square. We could not afford to lose great young men simply because we could not align our outcomes with their goals. And, we could not run a student leadership system based on trust by “keeping the dogs on the proverbial leash.”
Second, we could not afford to lose the opportunity to brand and sell our product by being unremarkable. Our BEHAG (big hairy audacious goal) was to ensure that when a visitor from outer space landed on the Culver campus — in a classroom, on an athletic field, in a barracks room, or in the faculty lounge — and looked around for a minute or two, he/she would exclaim: “This must be Culver!” Third, we could never position ourselves using negative language. We would celebrate retention, never talk about attrition. We would talk about Culver only as a destination site. We would imagine the possible for our students, our faculty, and our families. And we would ensure that every faculty and staff member and every student understood it was a privilege to be part of Culver. Everything would have a positive cast. When we focus on the simplicity on the other side of all of this complexity, we focus on mission and operational excellence. Who are we? What do we want to be? How do we get there? The answer was clear — together.
CULVER ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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