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There is nothing new under the sun. This may be the most basic insight of what might be called classical wisdom. This of course conflicts greatly with contemporary notions of progress and the pursuit of the “cutting edge” in science and technology. But which of these notions leads to a truer conception of how the world really works?
A question such as this illustrates well what ought to be a part of any ‘higher” education. One ought to ask deep questions about the nature of this thing we call life—about one’s purpose and what sort of person to strive to be, about what will bring our lives meaning and the inherent tradeoffs of various choices. Yet, at the majority of colleges today, instead of seeking the higher, we are only taught to get hired.
In our latest video, we chat with Dr. Eric Adler, a professor of classics at University of Maryland about his wonderful book The Battle of the Classics: How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today. To prove his classical bonafides, he shows how the conversations we are having today about the content and purpose of education is nothing new. We have been down this road before, he warns, and we would be wise to learn from our past mistakes.
Leave a comment below telling us about YOUR ideal of what a true higher education would look like.
