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Tag Archives: Education
The Paideia Proposal by Mortimer J. Adler: learning to be citizens
The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto by Mortimer J. Adler My rating: 5 of 5 stars This short manifesto gives a cogent overview of what public schooling should be setting out to achieve, the rationale for doing so, and how … Continue reading
hey! teachers! leave them kids alone!
Ideas matter. I suspect that behind every human conflict or disagreement there is an idea—or more than one idea—at stake, and that in most cases the parties concerned are unaware of it. This means that we argue at cross-purposes, never … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged Education, liberal education, MIT Technology Review, Nicholas Negroponte, the Great Ideas
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my liberal-education report card
In my last post I reviewed the reasons that I think liberal education is so important. Since I’m trying to acquire a liberal education through my own self-study program, a natural question is, what is my own progress? Without a … Continue reading
why liberal education, again?
Why do I feel that a specifically liberal education is so important? I see it this way. People are different. While we all belong to the same species, we have different backgrounds, characters, interests, and aims. Sometimes these aims come … Continue reading
On Rhetoric by Aristotle
On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse by Aristotle My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not Aristotle’s clearest or best organized work, but still part of the core curriculum of a liberal education. Why read Aristotle today? Because he is … Continue reading
be a bookworm—save the world
So how am I coming along with my liberal education, you ask? You may recall from an earlier post that I put a high value on liberal education, and have been persuaded by the writings of Mortimer J. Adler and … Continue reading
use your words
Right now one of the leading stories in the news is about the impasse over raising the “ceiling” of the American federal debt. It’s turned into a game of political chicken, with the deadline now only four days away, at … Continue reading
we’re doomed—and here’s why
Today we have a society in which all men are destined to be free—just as free as the Greek citizens and the Roman patricians, with more free time, more comfort, more power, more convenience, with as much political power. What … Continue reading
The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World by Mortimer J. Adler
The Great Ideas A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World: I (Great Books of the Western World, #2) by Mortimer J. Adler My rating: 5 of 5 stars The 2-volume “Syntopicon” of Britannica’s Great Books of the Western … Continue reading
Posted in book reviews
Tagged Education, landmark books, Mortimer J. Adler, the Great Ideas
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The Great Conversation by Robert M. Hutchins
The Great Conversation: The Substance Of A Liberal Education by Robert Maynard Hutchins My rating: 5 of 5 stars This slim opening volume of the Britannica Great Books of the Western World contends that liberal education, an unquestioned necessity for … Continue reading
Posted in book reviews
Tagged Education, landmark books, Robert M. Hutchins, the Great Ideas
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