Comparative Literature 265
Education 217X
Histories and Futures of Humanistic Education: Culture and Crisis, Books and
MOOCs
W 1:15-4:05 pm
CERAS 101 (except Mar 5, see below)
David Palumbo-Liu
palumbo-liu@stanford.edu
Candace Thille
Mitchell Stevens
Office hrs TBA
One of the most hotly debated topics today is online education. Whatever your
opinion, there is no doubt that it is and will continue to shape education in a
profound way. This course looks at, and debates, certain features of online
education specifically as they relate to the humanities and notions of engaged
critical learning.
It is designed as a collaborative course. We will work in tandem with Professor
Cathy’s Davidson’s course at Duke, “The History and Future of High Education,”
and Professor Christopher Newfield’s course at UC Santa Barbara, “Literature,
College, Creativity, Corporation. “ We will have four Google Hangouts with these
classes, and use other forums to interact with them. Each campus will use a
slightly different syllabus, linked to each instructor’s particular angle into this
general subject, but we will also have many readings and exercises in common.
We see this as a critical moment in education, and connect this topic to its
historical, cultural, political, and ethical implications.
This course at Stanford concentrates on specific moments in history where the
idea of education—what education is, for whom is it aimed, and with what values
is it endowed—come into crisis.
We will look at early discussions about education and culture (Arnold’s Culture
and Anarchy) and then works through several readings in American education to
a key moment in the mid-twentieth century whose premises still have influence—
the famous Two Cultures (humanities, sciences) debate. We next delve into the
radical responses to educational reform in France and the US in the late 1960s,
and finally consider the changing state of funding, value, and cultural critique in
the late twentieth and early-twenty-first century.
In particular we examine the idea of education as a personal, collective, and
intensely intellectual endeavor that is shaped by and shapes societies. We focus
specifically on the idea of the “public good” and the relation between education
and a democratic society.
This is a first-time, experimental course that will rely heavily on student input,
participation, invention, and dialog face-to-face and collaboration with students at
Duke, UC Santa Barbara, and elsewhere. It meets once a week for three hours.
Texts:
1940 AAUP Statement on Academic Freedom
Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (“Introduction,” “Sweetness and Light,”
“Barbarians, Philistines, Populace”).
“Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in a Digital Age”:
http://www.hastac.org/forums/forum-bill-rights-and-principles-learning-digital-age
Cathy Davidson, Now You See It! (Introduction and Chapter 3)
Davidson, “How A Class Becomes a Community”:
http://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2013/08/01/chapter-one-how-classbecomes-community-theory-method-examples
http://www.hastac.org/collections/field-notes-21st-century-literacies
Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg, The Future of Learning Institutions in
a Digital Age
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Chapters 1, 2, 3)
The G.I. Bill of 1944
Regenia Gagnier, “Operationalizing Hope: The Neoliberalization of British
Universities”
H. Giroux, Teachers as Intellectuals (Chapters 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13)
Suzanne Guerlac, “Humanities 2.0: E-learning in the Digital World.”
Geoffrey Galt Harpham, “From Eternity to Here: Shrinkage in American Thinking
About Higher Education”
Gregory Lee, “Tomorrow’s Humanities? Head in the Clouds, Back to the Future,
Across the World.”
Colleen Lye, Christopher Newfield, James Vernon, “Humanists and the Public
University.”
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go.
The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890
Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University (Chapters -18, 13, 15,
Conclusion)
Palumbo-Liu, The Deliverance of Others (Preface, Introduction, Chapter 3 [on
Never Let Me Go])
-- “Introduction” to Occasion 6: Restructuring the Humanities.
Report of the President's Commission on Higher Education in a Democracy in
1947
Howard Rheingold, Net Smart
The “Nanterre Manifesto”
The “Port Huron Statement”
K Ross, May ’68 and Its After-lives (Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2)
CP Snow, The Two Cultures
The Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois debate in the early 20th century
The Yale Report of 1828
Materials on “Pre-Texts” (see pre-texts.org)
Films:
Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 (Jonah, who will be 25 in the year 2000). dir
Tanner.
Entre les murs (The Class). Dir. Cantet
Schedule (Hangout dates are in brackets—be sure to attend!)
1/8
Introductions. Create teams. Choose biblio on MOOCs, join Fb group.
1/15 Arnold, Culture and Anarchy. The Yale Report of 1828, The Morrill Acts of
1862 and 1890, 1940 AAUP Statement on Academic Freedom, The G.I. Bill of
1944 and the Report of the President's Commission on Higher Education in a
Democracy in 1947. CP Snow The Two Cultures, Palumbo-Liu, “Introduction” to
Occasion 6: Restructuring the Humanities. Gagnier essay in Occasion; Harpham,
“From Eternity to Here: Shrinkage in American Thinking About Higher
Education.”
[1/22] Readings, Newfield readings (Chapters 1-8, 13, 15, Conclusion), Lye,
Newfield and Vernon on “Humanists and the Public University”; readings on
MOOCs derived from 1/8.
1/29 The Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois debate in the early 20th
century, Freire, Giroux readings. Discussion of final assignment.
[2/5] Davidson, Now You See It (“Introduction” and Chapter 3. Project
Classroom Makeover”); “How a Class Becomes a Community” and “Rights and
Principles” (to be found at http://www.hastac.org/collections/field-notes-21stcentury-literacies); Davidson and Goldberg, “The Future of Learning Institutions
in a Digital Age.”
2/12 Ross (Introduction, Chapters 1, 2), Nanterre, Port Huron, “Jonas” (watch
in class)
2/19
Watch “Entre les Murs,” Discussion.
[2/26] P-L Intro, Chapter on Never Let Me Go, Never Let Me Go. Attend Doris
Sommer lecture after at 5 pm
[3/5] Net Smart, Pre-Texts. Suzanne Guerlac, “Humanities 2.0”; Gregory Lee,
“Tomorrow’s Humanities?” Hangout with our partner classes as well as Prof.
Howard Rheingold and Pre-Texts originator Prof. Doris Sommer. On this date
alone we will meet 2-4, and in Hewlett 102. Please mark this on your calendars.
[3/12] Closing--Synthesis