Abraham Lincoln's 3 Lessons For College Students

CampusSplash:

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was asked to walk through one of the buildings of a local college to get to the platform where he would debate Stephen Douglas. "Well at last," he said, as he stepped onto the platform in front of a cheering crowd, "I have successfully passed through college!" Lincoln received only a few years of primary education, yet he still became one of the most successful lawyers in the United States, and one of our most revered and inspiring Presidents. What does his story teach modern-day college students?

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Comments

[msblynne]

12:33 PM on 02/21/2011

This article does not scratch the surface of all of the many, many ways that Lincoln rose above the rest. For students, it would seem to have been important to note that he taught himself Euclidean Geometry, as well as surveying and reading Law, on his own, while sorely coveting an opportunity to become educated. He read and loved Shakespeare, on his own. Lincoln would never have skipped class, he took education far too seriously for that. Of course it did not hurt that he was knock-down brilliant. Another unmentioned gift was his ability to find common ground where possible, and, after some youthful indiscretions, to make it a huge priority to neither give nor take offense. That is a huge reason why he was able to get the nomination in 1860.