Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Bowdoin Project Report: A very quick look…

And we mean REALLY quick!  As we expected, the report talked about in yesterday’s post is now available for downloading.  You can find it here: http://www.nas.org/images/documents/What_Does_Bowdoin_Teach.pdf

The higher source page is: http://www.nas.org/projects/the_bowdoin_project.  As we suggested before, be sure to click on the ‘preliminaries’ tab as well.

This is some serious reading, friends; more than 350 pages. 

Here is the concluding paragraph of the entire report:

What does Bowdoin not teach? Intellectual modesty. Self-restraint. Hard work. Virtue. Self-criticism. Moderation. A broad framework of intellectual history. Survey courses. English composition. A course on Edmund Spenser. A course primarily on the American Founders. A course on the American Revolution. The history of Western civilization from classical times to the present. A course on the Christian philosophical tradition. Public speaking. Tolerance towards dissenting views. The predicates of critical thinking. A coherent body of knowledge. How to distinguish importance from triviality. Wisdom. Culture.

We can’t wait to watch the ensuing local reaction, and discussion.

We should, of course, allow a respectful pause so smelling salts can revive members of the Bowdoin faculty and administration. 

Or maybe they’re all being transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center.  Perhaps you’ve noticed their official security reports tend to leave out the “A-word” in the hospital’s name.

So what’s up with that, Polar Bears?

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