Fall 2018 Essay Contest

This fall, the Buckley Program is thrilled to offer two essay contests: one for Yale College students and one for high school students.

Prompt

Russell Kirk wrote: “The primary purpose of a liberal education, then, is the cultivation of the person’s own intellect and imagination, for the person’s own sake. It ought not to be forgotten, in this mass-age when the state aspires to be all in all, that genuine education is something higher than an instrument of public policy. True education is meant to develop the individual human being, the person, rather than to serve the state.”

Do you agree or disagree with this vision of education?

College Contest

Essays must be between 700 and 900 words. Open to Yale College students.

High School Contest

Essays must be between 500 and 700 words. Open to all students in Grades 9 to 12 who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Prizes: First-place, second-place, and third-place winners will receive $1000, $500, and $250, respectively. All winners will be invited to the Buckley Program’s Eighth Annual Conference dinner banquet at the Omni Hotel on Friday, November 2nd to receive recognition.

Please send all submissions as Microsoft Word attachments to BuckleyProgram@gmail.com by Friday, October 26th.