Education vs. Training at Community Colleges
Mar 29, 2012 by Jason Fertig |
Jeff Anderson, dean of humanities, fine arts, and social sciences at Illinois Valley Community College, argues for the many benefits of great books courses, even for community college students.
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Who Teaches College Professors How to Teach?
Mar 08, 2012 by Jason Fertig |
I have a dirty little secret. No one has ever taught me how to teach - and that's the single biggest reason I still love teaching today.
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High Schools Discard the Canon
Aug 22, 2011 by Ashley Thorne |
A study led by NAS's Arkansas affiliate head finds that high school literature courses draw sparsely on the great books.
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Video: Jane Shaw on Great Books
May 23, 2011 by |
"There are so many faculty members who have rejected all these great writings of the past."
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Betrayed by Higher Ed
Mar 23, 2011 by David Clemens |
My former student Joshua, now ambivalently quartered at UC Santa Cruz (home of the fightin’ Banana Slugs and currently under Federal investigation for systemic anti-Semitism), has an article in Literary Matters… Continue Reading | 20 Comments >
What’s the Metric, Kenneth?
Oct 29, 2010 by David Clemens |
Clare Cavanagh was in town last week for our colloquium on “Imaginative Freedom and Political Freedom.” A celebrated translator, Clare is also the author of Lyric Poetry and Modern Politics (2010) in which she… Continue Reading | 1 Comment >
“I Regret Taking Gender Studies Courses”...No Comment
Sep 10, 2010 by Ashley Thorne |
An NYU gender studies grad wishes she'd taken politics, history, and literature courses, and learned "more about the world in general, rather than one tiny little sliver of the world." She now realizes, "There
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Will “Millenials” Take to the Classics?
Aug 16, 2010 by George Leef |
In Friday's Pope Center piece, English professor Sarah Adams argues that today's college students ("Millenials"), while often derided for their apparent indifference to serious reading and thinking, will respond to the… Continue Reading | Leave a Comment >
Great Books and Democracy
May 10, 2010 by David Clemens |
I just hosted a three-week colloquium exploring the relationship between great books and democracy which featured former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, classicist and military historian Victor Davis Hanson, and poet… Continue Reading | Leave a Comment >
On the Virtues of Distance
Apr 28, 2010 by David Clemens |
I run a Great Books Program that offers courses online so that students anywhere can earn a certificate. Recently I heard Gareth Williams, Chair of Columbia’s famous Lit-Hum core and emailed him for his thoughts on… Continue Reading | 1 Comment >
Four Rented Rooms and a Big Idea: Shimer College at the Crossroads
Jan 27, 2010 by Ashley Thorne, Peter Wood |
A tiny Great Books college in Chicago encounters a clash of ideas.
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“Death to Moby Dick!”
Dec 19, 2009 by David Clemens |
The Chronicle of Higher Education jobs list includes this gem: “The Department of English at UCLA invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor in Residence, in the area of 19th-century American literature… Continue Reading | Leave a Comment >
Heart of Darkness
Dec 18, 2009 by David Clemens |
Teaching Introduction to Literature, I see a curious new phenomenon: more and more students complain, bitterly, about how dark the readings are. I’m not sure what this new critical… Continue Reading | 3 Comments >
An Example of Educational Entrepreneurship
Nov 30, 2009 by George Leef |
In this week's Pope Center Clarion Call, Professor Tim Mosteller writes about his efforts at establishing a new college that will focus on great books and liberal learning. I'm wholeheartedly in favor of ventures like this… Continue Reading | Leave a Comment >
In Search of Lost Time
Nov 19, 2009 by David Clemens |
Around 10 B.C.E., the Roman poet Horace asserted that poetry’s purpose is “to delight and instruct.” More recently, in the Wall Street Journal, James Collins declared that in her novels, Jane… Continue Reading | Leave a Comment >
