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Learning to flourish : a philosophical exploration of liberal education
\"What is a liberal arts education? How does it differ from other forms of learning? What are we to make of the debates that surround it? What are its place, its value, and its prospects in the contemporary world? These are questions that trouble students and their parents, educators, critics, and policy-makers, and philosophers of education--among others. This work offers a philosophical exploration of liberal learning: a still-evolving tradition of theory and practice that has dominated and sustained intellectual life and learning in much of the globe for two millennia. This study will be of interest to anyone seeking to understand liberal arts education, as well as to educators and philosophers of education. The author weighs the views of both advocates and critics of the liberal arts, and interprets liberal education as a vital tradition aimed supremely at understanding and living a flourishing life. He elaborates the tradition as expressed in five competing but complementary paradigms that transcend theories of curriculum and pedagogy and are manifested in particular social contexts. He examines the transformative power of liberal education and its relation to such values as freedom, autonomy, and democracy, reflecting on the importance of intrinsic value and moral understanding. Finally, he considers age-old obstacles and current threats to liberal education, ultimately asserting its value for and urgent need in a global, pluralistic, technologically advanced society.\"--The publisher.
Book
The Battle of the Classics
The Battle of the Classics criticizes contemporary apologetics for the humanities and presents a historically informed case for a decidedly different approach to rescuing the humanistic disciplines in American higher education. It uses the so-called Battle of the Classics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a springboard for crafting a novel foundation for the humanistic tradition. The book argues that current defences of the humanities rely on the humanistic disciplines as inculcators of certain poorly defined skills such as “critical thinking.” It finds fault with this conventional approach, arguing that humanists cannot hope to save their disciplines without arguing in favor of particular humanities content. As the lackluster defenses of the classical humanities in the late nineteenth century help prove, instrumental apologetics are bound to fail. All the same, the book shows that proponents of the Great Books favor a curriculum that is too intellectually narrow for the twenty-first century. The Battle of the Classics thus lays out a substance-based approach to undergraduate education that will revive the humanities while steering clear of overreliance on the Western canon. The book envisions a global humanities based on the examination of masterworks from manifold cultures as the heart of an intellectually and morally sound education.
eBook
Classics, the culture wars, and beyond
\"Beginning with a short intellectual history of the academic culture wars, Eric Adler's book examines popular polemics including those by Allan Bloom and Dinesh D'Souza, and considers the oddly marginal role of classical studies in these conflicts. In presenting a brief history of classics in American education, the volume sheds light on the position of the humanities in general. The book dissects three significant controversies from the era: the so-called AJP affair, which supposedly pitted a conservative journal editor against his feminist detractors; the brouhaha surrounding Martin Bernal's contentious Black Athena project; and the dustup associated with Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath's fire-breathing jeremiad, Who Killed Homer? The book concludes by considering these controversies as a means to end the crisis for classical studies in American education. How can the study of antiquity--and the humanities--thrive in the contemporary academy? Classics, the Culture Wars, and Beyondprovides workable solutions to end the crisis for classics and for the humanities as well. This major work also includes findings from a web survey of American classical scholars, offering the first broadly representative impression of what they think about their discipline and its prospects for the future. Eric Adler also conducted numerous in-depth interviews with participants in the controversies discussed, allowing readers to gain the most reliable information possible about these controversies. Those concerned about the liberal arts and the best way to educate young Americans should read this book. Accessible and jargon-free, this narrative of scholarly scandals and their context makes for both enjoyable and thought-provoking reading\"-- Provided by publisher.
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Education under siege
First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
eBook
The liberal arts tradition
Ranging from Plato in antiquity to Martha Nussbaum in the present era, the authors of the seventy readings included in The Liberal Arts Tradition present significant and exemplary views addressing liberal arts education over the course of its history, particularly in the United States. Most of the documents are newly translated or no longer available in print. Arranged chronologically, each selection is accompanied by an informative introduction and extensive explanatory notes discussing its place within the liberal arts tradition. Based upon the author's twenty-five years of experience leading seminars concerning the history of liberal education, this collection presents a uniquely comprehensive and salient set of documents, while incorporating the neglected portrayal and discussion of women within the history of the liberal arts.
eBook
Realizing the distinctive university : vision and values, strategy and culture
\"In Realizing the Distinctive University: Vision and Values, Strategy and Culture, Mark Roche changes the terms of the debate about American higher education. A former dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame, Roche argues for the importance of an institutional vision, not simply a brand, and while he extols the value of entrepreneurship, he defines it in contrast to the corporate drive toward commercialization and demands for business management models. Using the history of the German university to assess the need for, and implementation of, distinctive visions at American colleges and universities, Roche's own vision benefits from his deep connection to both systems as well as his experience in the trenches working to realize the special mission of an American Catholic university. Roche makes a significant contribution by delineating means for moving such an institution from vision to implementation. Roche provides a road map to creating a superb arts and sciences college within a major research university and offers a rich analysis of five principles that have shaped the modern American university: flexibility, competition, incentives, accountability, and community. He notes the challenges and problems that surface with these categories and includes ample illustration of both best practices and personal missteps. The book makes clear that even a compelling intellectual vision must always be linked to its embodiment in rhetoric, support structures, and community. Throughout this unique and appealing contribution to the literature on higher education, Roche avoids polemic and remains optimistic about the ways in which a faculty member serving in administration can make a positive difference. Realizing the Distinctive University is a must read for academic administrators, faculty members interested in the inner workings of the university, and graduate students and scholars of higher education\"-- Provided by publisher.
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Education and democracy : the meaning of Alexander Meiklejohn, 1872-1964
Intellectual biography at its best. Nelson has presented us with the whole Meiklejohn, warts and all.
—E. David Cronon, coauthor of The University of Wisconsin: A History
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This is the definitive biography of Alexander Meiklejohn, one of the most important and controversial educators and civil libertarians of the twentieth century. A charismatic teacher and philosopher with extrordinarily high expectations for democratic self-government in the United States, Meiklejohn was both beloved and reviled during his long life. Brilliant and dedicated, he could also be stubborn and arrogant, and his passion for his own ideals led to frequent clashes with prominent and powerful critics.
The son of reform-minded, working-class immigrants from Scotland, Meiklejohn rejected the spiritually agnostic and politically instrumentalist philosophies of his Progressive-Era contemporaries, many of whom, he argued, simply took democracy for granted. As dean of Brown University at the outset of the twentieth century, he lamented the disintegration of the old classical curriculum and questioned the rising influence of amoral science in modern higher education. He served as president of Amherst College during the culturally turbulent years of World War I, a director of the famous Experimental College at the University of Wisconsin during the late 1920s and early 1930s, and as a delegate to UNESCO after World War II. An outspoken defender of the First Amendment during the McCarthy era, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Alexander Meiklejohn was a self-proclaimed idealist living in an increasingly pragmatic age, and his central question remains essential today: How can education teach citizens to be free?
A splendid piece of work. It is a fascinating character study of an extraordinary figure in American intellectual and educational history. Nelson presents a very balanced portrait of the man, his strengths and weaknesses.—Charles W. Anderson, author of Prescribing the Life of the Mind
Adam R. Nelson is assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University. Previously a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University, he is currently working on a history of internationalism in American higher education.
eBook