Classics Without the Classroom: A Guide To Getting (Really) Educated

Classical Wisdom, May 26, 2021

Can we understand the Classics without the classroom? A guide to getting (really) educated with James Hankins, Professor of History at Harvard University, Anya Leonard of Classical Wisdom, and Alexandra Hudson of Civic Renaissance. This roundtable discussion focuses on why the classics should be preserved, how we should go about it, and what individuals can do to educate themselves and others.

As mainstream educational institutions move away from a classical core in the liberal arts, it can be tempting to feel despondent about the future of this educational model that has educated men and women for millennia. Yet there are a growing number of organizations around the world committed to remedy this. These non-accrediting institutions are nourishing those who care about ideas and the wisdom of the past and are offering people a chance to engage in the Great Conversation. What can we learn from these initiatives? How can we promote more of them? How can these new organizations nurture the values of curiosity and lifelong learning?

Other topics that come up in this discussion include the nature of true nobility, leisure time, the value of classical education for non-elites, the marginalized and disenfranchised, and "everyday people," and the place of the classics in our technological society.