A Link
I’m going to write a real post later today, really I am, but for the moment, this
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_classical_education.html
is a link to Victor Davis Hanson’s essay on the future of the humanities from City Journal.
I’ve been waiting for it to come online for months, and John has the print edition and has already read it, but–yes. Very much part of what we’re talking about here, and part of why I don’t think we’re at the point Rome was before the fall.
3 Responses to 'A Link'
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Its a good article but the online universities don’t quite provide what I want. You still have to formally enroll as a student.
I want to nibble – take a course in this or that which interests me – without worrying about qualifying for entry in the university or getting a degree.
jd
4 Dec 08 at 6:06 pm
You can usually do that if you’re over 21, at least for introductory courses. I did a few like that years ago, including a couple by correspondance, back when that meant the booklets with the lectures came in the mail! There used to be two options – auditing, with no credit, and paying the full tuition, which got you credit in case you changed your mind later about registering for a degree program.
I’ve been tempted since, but it’s expensive and I’m too busy anyway.
cperkins
4 Dec 08 at 10:35 pm
I am at a loss to understand the logic. Rome did not fall because no one read the classics. It fell because, as with most cultures, at the end not enough of the population regarded it as worth defending–sometimes with good reason, sometimes not. I do not doubt we will produce another Stilicho, Arthur or Aetius. We may yet produce a St Augustine. What I don’t think we have is a Cincinnatus, an Augustus or a Trajan in our future. I keep talking about cohesion and will, and you keep refining a syllabus: an answer for the individual, perhaps, but not for the nation, and probably not for the civilization.
The Spartans pointed out that each Athenian decided for himself whether he was at war when Athens declared war, or at peace when Athens made peace. After a time, the Long Walls went down, and I doubt that Athen’s future importance as a cultural center was much immediate consolation.
robert_piepenbrink
4 Dec 08 at 11:13 pm