Today’s plan:
- Reviewing the last discussion posts
- Listening to Thomas Frank
- A poem or two
- Petrarch Question
- Homework
Reviewing the Last Discussion Posts
There are a few specific threads or ideas to which I want to call attention:
- Ricky on Cicero and the question of citizenship
- Dominic on how we determine student needs
- Nina and Tequila on the corporate mindset of education and rising costs (alongside Krystal and Emily (x2), who are interested in credentials
Listening to Thomas Frank
I can quite predict where that last bullet conversation will lead us, but I am hoping to transition into a 2 minute clip from Thomas Frank.
If you are interested, Frank’s longer talk (it is only 20 minutes) is available via Soundcloud.
I do have one problem with Frank’s disposition–and that is that you could find the syllabus, find the books, and “read them for yourself.” As someone who has taught dense philosophical and theoretical texts for almost a decade, I can tell you that many people cannot read these texts on their own. They require assistance (both in terms of providing a context for the texts and for helping people parse out the difficult prose and arguments).
Ok, Let’s Try Something Weird
Petrarch
As I emailed out yesterday, I want to focus on Petrarch today. I have a series of questions to work through:
- Why does Proctor argue we should study “poetry”? What must we train ourselves to face? (35-36, 43-44)
- What is the difference between Dante and Petrarch? How might we think their difference in terms of Cicero and Plato? (38-39)
- Petrarch on the difference between “intellect” and “will”(56)
- What is the link between reading and subjectivity? (44, 46, 48*)
Homework
i’ve adjusted the syllabus a bit, let’s take a look.
