Friday, March 14, 2008

I am King, Continuing Liberal Arts Education


(See also, "If I Were King...." below) What should the king (in our case the people) study in order to rule for the common good? Below are some major areas with some specific issues. What needs to be added?

History and historical geography, particularly the progress of civilizations (how they began, major events, how they declined, forms of government and how the form changed).

Philosophy, what are the major areas of study and the schools of thought within each, who founded, which thinkers, what implications, what historical anecdotes.

Current events and geography (esp. beyond our borders)

Science (current issues: global warming and environmentalism, evolution, creationism and intelligent design; theories in support and against).

Economics, micro and macro.

Politics (here and abroad), who controls what where, who is going where with what policy; schools of thought on foreign policy, proponents, implications and current and historical anecdotes; theories of government proponents, implications and current and historical anecdotes.

Specific moral issues: abortion, euthanasia, the family and sex, torture, trade with oppressive regimes, labor standards.

7 comments:

Civis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I like how Susan Wise Bauer has things laid out in her "Training the Mind" book, however, it is a little rigid. She advocates studying everything chronologically, starting with the Bible and the Greek classics. Latin would be included and Greek, if possible. However, you would have to fight the teachers' union to have something like that implemented, and there are probably a lot of teachers out there making a partial living off writing books and curriculums.

Civis said...

There may be another interesting discussion developing at

http://rrrrodak.blogspot.com/

regarding book burning and free speech.

Rodak said...

Discussions on the general topic are also going on at Postmodern Papist.

Civis said...

Under which post?

Rodak said...

Civis--
A couple of them: scroll, read.

Rodak said...

http://postmodernpapist.blogspot.com/2008/03/inhospitable-inferno.html