“It seems to me that the world is now more than ever dominated by the gods of mass and speed and that the worship of these can lead only to the lowering of standards, the adulteration of quality, and, in general, to the loss of those things which are essential to the life of civility and culture. The tendency to look with suspicion upon excellence, both intellectual and moral, as ‘undemocratic’ shows no sign of diminishing.” – Richard M. Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences (1948)
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch
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Welcome to the first week of your self-education!
We are about to engage in the increasingly little known but very “serious pursuit of historical reading,” an endeavor that takes desire, preparation, and practice to be successful. And, by golly, we’re doing it by ourselves. Without the perceived benefit of a lecture hall or any other such intellectual safety net. Just you and the book. And me. And those others in bloggy-land who have committed to accompany us on this little literary joyride.
YA HOO!!
Just thought about all those lovely classics I’ll be getting my hands on — and head around — in a few short weeks. Whew. I’ll try to calm myself down. 🙂
Questions about how all this is going to work? I thought you might have a couple.
Q: So… What is this little bloggy book club going to look like?
As I mentioned here and here, we’ll be reading through The Well Educated Mind. We’re going to start off nice and slow this first week by reading only Chapter 1, which provides a pretty thorough overview of the “why” of classical education: why we all need to retrain our minds to read critically, to actually learn and respond effectively to information, and, ultimately, to pursue intellectual excellence. That first chapter should give you plenty to chew on, especially if this is your first exposure to the ideals and goals of classical education. I’ll post some thoughts on the reading (and I’ll welcome yours!) next Monday, and we’ll go from there, reading one chapter per week for the next four weeks until we’ve completed the “instructional” portion of the book (and my oh my, after that… well, that’s when the real fun begins!). Sounds easy enough, right?
Q: What will be required as far as reading, participating, etc.?
Other than the occasional expression of undying gratitude to the bloggy facilitator, :), not all that much just yet. We’ll get into the specifics of critical reading as we go, but for now, here are a few essentials:
1. Carve out some time to read. Alone. Every day.
2. Keep paper and a writing utensil with you as you read. I use small two-subject notebooks, which tend to pack well in a purse and aren’t too bulky, but give you a fairly generous amount of writing space.
3. Use them. Jot down interesting/thought provoking quotes, questions, etc. In other words, don’t just read for speed or to “get through it”… that’s the tendency we all have (because that’s the way we’ve been trained), and that tendency is exactly what we’re going to be working to eliminate over the course of this book. Think while you read. We’ll learn how to direct that thinking into something worthwhile later. 🙂
4. Talk about it. Share your observations, questions, ideas, etc. here in the comments and/or with your real-life buddies. They’ll think you went all crazy-intellectual on them. 🙂
In the meantime, if during these next several weeks you find yourself getting all riled up about what passes for education today — and you have some additional reading time on your hands — may I suggest a few interesting titles. These are oldies but REALLY goodies:
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
On Secular Education by R.L. Dabney
The End of Education by Neil Postman
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver
I’m excited about our little club, and I hope you are, too… I’m looking forward to next Monday already! Questions/concerns/comments… all are welcome below.
okay, i was scared that i would fall behind once we started so i read the first 4 chapters already. i’m going to to back and read them again (a suggestion in the book) but one thing i wanted to mention is that at the end of chapter 4 she does suggest reading the first 10 chapters of don quixote. i am not sure about the rest of the group, but it would be helpful if we knew what books were on the horizon as soon as possible so i could order them (she does suggest forking out the dough and getting your own copy so you can write right in them).
if you think we should get d.q. or know what other book(s) are next, let me know.
can’t wait to start sharpening each other!!
Will do, my dear. Don Quixote is the first… and I’ll get the rest up ASAP.
Okay, so I’m already up to my eyeballs in reading and school, BUT, this sounds like too good an opportunity to pass up. SO.. I’ll be ordering my books asap and joining you. That is, if non-bloggers are allowed. I read blogs, does that count?
100% yes. Glad to have you join us!
I think I have no clue what I’m in for. But I am looking forward to it!!
RAK
fyi: amazon is out of stock of penguin edition of don quixote, but you can order online from tattered cover and if you pick it up at a store there is no charge for shipping. they are cheaper than amazon for this title as well, only $13.66 with tax.