First, welcome! Second, I do not know the IHP of Kansas or John Senior. You'll have to tell me more. When I mention integrated curriculum I mean creating the maximum amount of overlap between the subject matter, so that, e.g., history, art, literature, and writing are essentially all aspects of one area of study.
Fascinating interview…it seems so rare today to find someone who is genuinely intellectually curious. The loss of a thoughtfully structured general education in (more or less) chronological progression from the classical world through the 20th century which presents the student with a civilization’s ideas, literature, art, science in the context of social, economic and political events is one of the tragedies of the post-1970s university. For such was the aim of a good Western Civilization course from the early 20th century through the 1970s. From textbooks like that of RR Palmer’s (later with others) The Making of the Modern World to magnum opera such as Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence, these surveys can only serve as a framework, a beginning, but in the hands of skilled historian - really intellectual historians - they show the whole cloth and entice the curious student to explore things in depth…but with the context at the back of his or her mind.
Thanks for this reading. I learned a lot.
Myrna! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Mr. Miller: One phrase specifically caught my attention in your wonderful interview. INTEGRATED CURRICULUM.
I’m new to your writing, maybe this is obvious to those who follow you. Do you know the IHP of Kansas? John Senior?
First, welcome! Second, I do not know the IHP of Kansas or John Senior. You'll have to tell me more. When I mention integrated curriculum I mean creating the maximum amount of overlap between the subject matter, so that, e.g., history, art, literature, and writing are essentially all aspects of one area of study.
Fascinating interview…it seems so rare today to find someone who is genuinely intellectually curious. The loss of a thoughtfully structured general education in (more or less) chronological progression from the classical world through the 20th century which presents the student with a civilization’s ideas, literature, art, science in the context of social, economic and political events is one of the tragedies of the post-1970s university. For such was the aim of a good Western Civilization course from the early 20th century through the 1970s. From textbooks like that of RR Palmer’s (later with others) The Making of the Modern World to magnum opera such as Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence, these surveys can only serve as a framework, a beginning, but in the hands of skilled historian - really intellectual historians - they show the whole cloth and entice the curious student to explore things in depth…but with the context at the back of his or her mind.