Lighting Students' Lives
In our special back-to-school issue, we celebrate the subjects teachers
teach--with top scholars writing about the subjects they love. No matter
what you teach, we think you'll learn something from each--and take delight
in the intellectual grist each offers.
Curing Provincialism
Why We Educate the Way We Do
A Conversation with Jacques Barzun
History science, art, literature, math--these are the core of our
intellectual inheritance. As the lead-off to this special issue, eminent
cultural historian Jacques Barzun discusses the origins of these subjects
and how the frameworks they provide enable us to extend our understanding
of the world and reach beyond our natural, human parochialism.
Opening Minds
Why I Teach
By Patrick Welsh
Even after 30 years, sharing great works of literature with teenagers
is a fascinating, often surprising, endeavor. As students wrestle with
poetry, plays, and novels, they begin to feel the thrill of learning.
American History
A Drama of Sweep and Majesty
By Wilfred M. McClay
American history is often thought of as "thin and provincial gruel." In
fact, says this historian, American history is a tremendous drama where
the great issues of human existence--such as the proper means and ends of
liberty, order, individuality, prosperity, and democracy--come to life.
The Whole Shebang
How Science Produced The Big Bang Model
By Timothy Ferris
Curiosity, observation, experimentation, theory-building--all of these
are part of the slow process that moves science from hunches to lasting
models. Here, the author offers a wholly readable, up-to-date account of
the accumulation of evidence that has led scientists to have such
confidence in the Big Bang Model.
Visions of Wisdom: An Art Essay
Across time and continents, art has honored what societies have most
highly regarded. From grand portraits of the wise to cheerful school
scenes, you'll see in this essay how art has depicted wisdom, learning,
and teaching--and reinforced the value of education.
Huckleberry Finn: 1948
A Community of Saints
By Lionel Trilling
A testament to the possibility of interracial respect and friendship.
Huckleberry Finn is now the most-taught piece of American
literature in American high schools. Speaking to us from the year 1948,
literary critic Lionel Trilling analyzes this "subversive book," noting
that no one who reads it will be able to accept without question the
assumptions of the morality by which he lives.
The Life that Shaped Mark Twain's Anti-Slavery Views
By Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, and Geoffrey Ward
Inventing Numbers
(pdf file, 76K)
How Mathematicians Filled the Inky Void
By David Berlinski
1, -5, 0, 1/2, these numbers seem so ordinary--but where did they come
from? Why are they necessary? With audacity and wit, mathematicians have
called them up from the abyss.
