A Response to the Cynical Student
You’ve heard the complaints: When am I ever gonna use this? How is this relevant to the real world? How is reading Shakespeare going to make me a better banker? … Continue reading “A Response to the Cynical Student”
Science and history should be a part of Great Books
To the editor: Unfortunately these Great Books programs are mostly philosophy oriented. I found that they were greatly deficient in two areas: (1) science and math: only Darwin’s Origin of … Continue reading “Science and history should be a part of Great Books”
Preserving the Canon: Great Books Programs at America’s Colleges and Universities
The Martin Center found thirty-four academic programs that involve a close study of Great Books of Western thought. Although some of the programs in this report aren’t advertised as Great … Continue reading “Preserving the Canon: Great Books Programs at America’s Colleges and Universities”
A Popular Fiction Genre is Unreadable Garbage. Blame Colleges.
Over the last several years, a burgeoning new genre has put the book-watching world on notice. “New Adult,” a coinage first used by St. Martin’s Press in 2009, refers to … Continue reading “A Popular Fiction Genre is Unreadable Garbage. Blame Colleges.”
Faith, the Real World, and Liberal Arts: Turning College on Its Head at Hildegard
A new college is opening its doors to students in the fall of 2023. In Costa Mesa, California, Hildegard College is offering students the chance to take their faith and … Continue reading “Faith, the Real World, and Liberal Arts: Turning College on Its Head at Hildegard”
A Life-Changing Meeting of Minds
In 1985, Roosevelt Montás arrived in the United States aged twelve, speaking no English, accustomed to life in a rural mountain village of the Dominican Republic where he had passed … Continue reading “A Life-Changing Meeting of Minds”
Beauty and Wisdom: Renew the Culture by Restoring the Liberal Arts
Universities are in dire need of reform. They are too expensive; the classwork is too easy; the curriculum too unfocused. Too many students drop out or don’t care. Indeed, many … Continue reading “Beauty and Wisdom: Renew the Culture by Restoring the Liberal Arts”
The Liberal Arts: What We Don’t Know
What is the value of a liberal arts education? At a time when parents are wary of taking on loads of debt to finance their children’s college degrees, it was … Continue reading “The Liberal Arts: What We Don’t Know”
Why Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing and How to Revive Them
The loss of public trust in universities that has risen to front page news did not suddenly emerge in 2020. In 2018 the non-partisan Gallup organization found that, for the … Continue reading “Why Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing and How to Revive Them”
10 Books We’d Like to Find Under the Christmas Tree in 2020
One of my favorite projects at the Martin Center is the cultivation of our higher education library. So far, we’ve collected nearly 700 books about higher education and educational philosophy. … Continue reading “10 Books We’d Like to Find Under the Christmas Tree in 2020”