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COLLEGE!
What is it good for?

- a model of what I would like to see in a college -

You know what "liberal arts" means? In Latin, liber means free... the Romans had slaves from all over the world, and some of the slaves were very bright, like the Greeks. The Romans would let the slaves get educated in all sorts of practical subjects, like math, like engineering, so they could build things, like music so they could be entertainers. But only Roman citizens, the free people - liber - could take things like rhetoric and literature and history and theology and philosophy. Because they were the arts of persuasion - and they didn't want the slaves to learn how to present arguments that might inspire them to unite and rise up... So he "liberal" arts are the arts of persuasion, and they didn't want anybody but free citizens knowing how to persuade people. Tom Wolfe, "I Am Charlotte Simmons"

When my older boy graduated from the University of California, on the five-year plan, he summed up his experience by saying, "I didn't learn much, but it was a heck of a party." Now that I have two younger boys approaching the same experience, I wish far more for them than "a heck of a party." Among other things, I want them to understand that they are not going to college to "get an education" - that they are going to college to discover how ignorant they really are, and to enhance the skills and background material required to continue their educations. I don't want them to "become educated," implying an end to the process - the static state at which most adult minds, that got "educated," find themselves. I want these young men to actually "do something," in the hope of great adventures - the antidote to the sameness of our days.

I want young men and women to be culturally and academically enriched by the basic ideas and issues that dominate our world. Nothing of the major divisions of human knowledge, and the issues they raise, should escape their college radar:

1. Art
2. Business and Economics
3. Government and Law
4. History
5. Life/Death
6. Manual skills
7. Mathematics
8. Matter and Energy
9. Religion and Philosophy
10. Science
11. Society
12. Technology
13. The Earth

I want them to graduate with additional exposure to the world of work. In light of all these requirements, I am looking for schools that come close to fulfilling the following:

• A four year program leading to a B.A. or B.S., with an optional minor leading to a state teaching certificate*.
• Each year divided into four quarters. Students attend school year-round, four quarters a year, except for regularly scheduled breaks and holidays. Each quarter has a "core reading and writing" assignment.
• All students participate in a work/study program that comprises approximately 50% of their four years. Work/Study is a program facilitated by the college, usually off-campus, where the student holds a full time, paying, internship in a field of interest. During work/study additional academic credits are earned for reading, writing, special projects, and/or attending classes of interest at local schools and/or on the Internet. Students interested in pursuing teaching certification would do so during these periods.
• Classes start at 8:00 AM and continue until 3:00 PM, five days a week. Saturday classes end at noon. Typically students have four, one-hour classes a day with one of these classes being a lab of extra duration. Students are expected to do independent study two to three hours a day, five days a week.
• The teachers are the real teachers, not assistants brought in while the tenured professor pursues independent projects.
• The teachers have a clear idea of what they want the students to learn, and a theory of instruction to facilitate this learning.
• Along with all the rest, students would also leave with an overview of finance/accounting, the law and statistics.

 

YEAR ONE

 

Note for all years: Reading should not be limited to "Core reading" assignments. Significant additional reading and manual-skill development, such as carpentry, woodworking, blacksmithing, etc... should be assigned every quarter, believing that the majority of what educated people learn, they learn from reading and working with their hands. In addition, ten hours of work a week should be devoted to the maintenance of the community: cleaning, aesthetic improvement, maintenance of all kinds, gardening, food preparation, sanitation, ditch digging, wall building, etc. Quiet periods for practicing the arts of relaxation and physical fitness need also be included. 

First Quarter Orientation - Outward Bound, Army Reserves, National Guard... The Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory. Core reading: The Source, Michner; The Art of War, Sun Tzu (as well as Sun Tzu Was a Sissy by Stanley Bing). Core writing: Art.

Second Quarter - on campus academics with an emphasis on Accelerated Learning Writing Across the Curriculum, reading, listening, speaking, information organization and math plus the three fundamental behaviors of success: starting on time, staying on task, completing assignments. Weekly seminar: Laughter for Living, in the manner taught by Annette Goodheart. Core reading: Maslow and the Psychology of Peak Experiences. 

Third Quarter - Americorps volunteer program. Core reading: Babbit, Sinclair Lewis; The Frontiersman, Eckert; The Republic, Charles Beard; Core writing: Life.

Fourth Quarter - on campus academics, same emphasis as Second Quarter above. Core reading: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig; A Brief History of Time, Hawking. Core writing: History.

 

YEAR TWO

Two week break begins second year.

First Quarter - work/study **. Core reading: Huckleberry Finn, Twain. Selected Essays, Emerson. Core writing: Matter and Energy.

Second Quarter - on campus academics. Core reading: The Bible (selections); How to Solve It, Polya. Core writing: Religion and Philosophy. Seminar, The Art of Exceptional Living, Jim Rohn.

Third Quarter - work/study. The Great Books, Denby; How Accounting Works, Edwards, Hermanson, Salmonson, Kensicki. Core writing: Science.

Fourth Quarter - on campus academics. Core reading: Roots, Haley; Six Easy Pieces, The Meaning of it All, Feynman. Core writing: Law and Society.

 

YEAR THREE

Two week break begins third year.

First Quarter - on campus academics. Core reading: Autobiography of Malcolm X, Haley; What is Mathematics, Really? Hersh; Nietzsche, a Philosophical Inquiry, Safranski; The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene; Core writing: Technology.

Second Quarter - work/study. Core reading: Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiosaki; Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill; Core writing: The Earth.

Third Quarter - work/study. Core reading: Jane Austen; Newton. Core writing: Law.

Fourth Quarter - on campus academics. Core reading: Endurance, Shakelton; Personal Best, Sheehan; Good Bye Mr. Chips, Hilton. Core writing: Finance/Accounting.

 

YEAR FOUR

Two week break begins forth year.

First Quarter - work/study. Core reading: The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; An Introduction to the Law, Gordon Post; Core writing: Senior Thesis.

Second Quarter - on campus academics. Core reading: Going the Distance, Sheehan; How We Die, Nuland; On Death and Dying, Kubler-Ross. Core writing: Senior Thesis.

Third Quarter - work/study. Core reading: D-Day, Stephen Ambrose; Atlas Shrugged, Rand. Core writing: Senior Thesis.

Fourth Quarter - on campus academics. Major Thesis presented and defended. Core reading: The Ugly American, Burdick and Lederer; A Bright Shining Lie, Sheehan; The Best and the Brightest, Halberstram; How to find a graduate school; How to find a job; The first day after graduation.

I would really like to hear of colleges or universities that approximate, or enhance, the above. Please let me know what you find, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com. I am so anxious to hear from you because I need assistance in helping my boys make the right college choice for them - or maybe they would be better served by a trade school, or going directly into the service. I would like to entertain any and all ideas. That's where you come in.

Thank you.

* Those wishing to pursue a teaching credential would be taught learning theory and how to teach reading, writing, listening, speaking, information organization and math. In addition: positive discipline/proximity management; modeling, leading, testing; how to teach social skills and rules to youth; cultural literacy and the three fundamental behaviors associated with academic success: starting on time, staying on task, completing assignments. I would begin by studying Core Knowledge, Direct Instruction, and training all prospective teachers, all grade levels, how to teach Reading Mastery One (See Other Resources / Ideas).

** Work/Study is a program that comprises approximately 50% of a student's four years. Facilitated by the college, students hold full-time, paying, internships (usually off-campus), in various fields of interest: law one quarter, film making another, manufacturing another, etc... During work/study additional academic credits are earned for reading, writing, special projects, and/or attending evening classes of interest at local schools and on the Internet. Students interested in pursuing teaching certification would do their "practice teaching" during these periods.

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