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The Ideal Education

I received a standard British education, which was not the best education for the sensemaking of the world we live in, the Western world. The ideal education for the sensemaking of this particular experience would involve mastering Classical Greek and Hebrew—that’s it. If you know Jerusalem and Athens, then English, Europe, the 19th century, the American century is readable and vulnerable.

Comments (8)

1

Sort of like how you can understand quantum mechanics by watching an apple fall to the ground?

Posted by ebsur | April 22, 2007 8:01 PM
2

Bleep blop blip blip zeewow!

Posted by uh | April 22, 2007 8:04 PM
3

Interesting - I'm reading a novel called Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar, and have been struck often by Hadrian's musings being relevant to this century...

Posted by isabelita | April 22, 2007 8:25 PM
4

Yes, thank you Isabelita. Youcenar is a good writer. We cannot currently find in our libraries the one book that we have by her.

I was going to try to respond to Charles about not feeling lesser about his education, nor the education of kids in poverty hills of western Virginia. I was going to keep it brief by mentioning Faustus and Mephostophilis, the ignorant masses. I was going to invent a portmanteau for the the mastered languages.

Anyway, we rarely get responded to when we offer our brand of silly edutainment.

Yes, Yourcenar, great that you brought her up. We'll get on it tomorrow.
Sweet dreams.

Posted by Congrats | April 22, 2007 8:58 PM
5

I want to put in a good word for Latin here, as this era of ours resembles late antiquity more than anything other. The Roman sensibilities of Tacitus are quite different from those of his Greek predecessors and more similar to our own, as we sit here contemplating the folly of empire.

Posted by Jim Demetre | April 22, 2007 9:36 PM
6

My mother grew up under British Mandate in Jerusalem before, during, and after the founding of the Modern State of Israel. She witnessed the making of that country. The Arab girls and she were required to Learn a "Classical" language to fullfill British educational requirements. Classical Arabic fit the bill nicely for the Arab girls, but my Mother chose Latin instead. My mother (a Russian Orthodox WW2 war refugee) could not use Russian as it's not considered "Classical". So what benefit did it do my mother, educated under the British system, by Russian Orthodox Nuns in a boarding school on the mount of Olives? She speaks (fluently and with out accent Arabic and Russian)English, French, some Hebrew and Latin. She's one hell-of a blast at a cocktail party.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | April 22, 2007 10:48 PM
7

While stoicism and epicurianism are so out of fashion that we changed the meaning of these words so that they'd actually mean something to us, the Nicomachean ethics are still read as if they still had something new to teach and actually inspire and provoke contemporary readers. I'm sorry, but the greeks are still THE reference of our civilization, the roots to which thinkers always come back to, while we have long moved on from roman writers.

Posted by Mokawi | April 23, 2007 1:20 AM
8

Sogone Bighor- Wher ere you when you recieved the news of Yeltsin's passing?

Me, i was pusht to camp stay neer Zagreb river,an listne to Grannie at candlligth teel preryes oft th Saints. RIP Msr Yeltasin, you arnt asbig a clerbirty as Cat's Kradle or ashonkie M&M, aber you loook like BIGhorN head, youmust be in happpy HOurrh heaven now. blesa

Posted by sasha | April 23, 2007 8:57 AM

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