@pensandpoison I just cannot crack the code with Catcher. It is a favorite of many people whom I admire, and I should give it another go but I only have so much life I am willing to subject to Holden Caulfield.
I think to teach the books I teach, I need to have thought about them a long time and on my own terms. I think for students to study the books I teach is very useful, but the uses are basically impossible to predict...
I'm grateful to @DouthatNYT for inviting me on his podcast to discuss the fate of the liberal arts and humanities in the age of AI. I hope that all those who follow higher ed and care about the liberal arts will listen.
https://t.co/xy4l8LTxs8 https://t.co/xy4l8LTxs8
@thewaronbeauty It really is. Sir Kenneth Clark is top notch. His very short treatise, What Is A Masterpiece? had a strong impact on me and my renewed thinking about art.
The institutions that will survive AI will be small, personal, with small class sizes and a strong institutional culture. (Yes, places like @stjohnscollege )
In today’s NYT:
“Los Angeles parents are fed up with schools loading up students with laptops and tablets, and assigning schoolwork on a slew of apps … The parents’ successful campaign points to an escalating national reckoning for the powerful classroom technology industry.”
With due respect: If there is one thing I understand, it is that the current academic system is *not* following the telos of the university. By contrast, it is failing. So I argue that the original telos needs to be restored.
"A degree" is more and more worthless, signifying few challenges and less formation. You know where they really teach things? Small classes with dedicated teachers at the liberal arts colleges.
@thewaronbeauty Rothko loved Fra Angelico. I love them both. I do think there is a kind of resonant beauty in Rothko’s mature work. He isn’t Fra Angelico but I do think he was going for a spiritual and contemplative sensibility.
A school is healthy when its teachers are still being formed. Stagnant adults cannot raise living souls.
Teachers need a seminar just as much as the students do, and the students need the teachers to participate in a seminar as much as the teachers need it.
I very much appreciate the seriousness Greer brings to this question. It helps me to clarify for myself the nature of science as a liberal art as we practice it here @stjohnscollege 1/x
@zenahitz Hannah Arendt noted in the 50’s what is worse today: teachers are trained more in pedagogy than in their content area. The admins too get Ed D’s in the service of an ed machine. As I think @zenahitz says in her book: the joy of learning flows directly into the joy of teaching.