Formerly called The Learning Company. The article demonstrates that there is a genuine popular demand for courses in the humanities. The reason the humanities are in decline on the conventional college campus, therefore, is simply that they are no longer offered.
Tear down the little red walls ...
Buy the book!
The Great Courses
Posted by Steve Roney Friday, September 14, 2012 at 12:30 PM Labels: cultural literacy, humanities, tertiary education
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The Perp
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What is a Burning Schoolhouse?
Apparently, those who did not grow up in Canada, perhaps even only Eastern Canada, may not know of Burning Schoolhouses. In Canada, every Victoria Day and Dominion Day (24 May and July 1) concludes with a fireworks display in the twilight. And every fireworks display concludes with a Burning Schoolhouse, a distinctive firework, pictured above.
It's nothing spectacular to see: just a clear white flare, followed by flames slowly licking through the windows of a blackening schoolhouse. The joy is in the symbolism of the thing, helped in older days by the fact that almost every single schoolhouse in Canada was built, in similar style, of red brick.
Bad luck, though, if the schoolhouse does not completely burn, to the ground, to salted cinders. To prevent this horror, custom is also to jam the little red cardboard perdition with any duds from the previous pyrotechnical display, in hopes of making something truly spectacular and bloodthirsty happen.
Freedom! School's out! Glory, glory, hallelujah! No more pencils! No more books!
But this primitive Canadian ritual seems symbolic in another way. Humans, like all God's critters, are born to learn; it is of our essence. Learning is fun; all play is learning. Everyone loves to learn; even if it's just how to manage a yo-yo.
And yet, almost every kid hates school.
These two facts, taken together, suggest we can do better.
Tear down the little red walls!
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