School of Athens, by Raphael, 1505, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

School of Athens, by Raphael, 1505. Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

Ways of Learning

Volume 1, Number 4 | fall 2008

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A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1484. Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Preamble

Playing with Fire

By Lewis H. Lapham

The framework of American education holds fast to the ardent but mistaken belief that education is a commodity, the stuff that one pours into empty vessels.

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A primary school in the field, 1900.

Catch and Release

By D. Graham Burnett

A history of pedagogical practices in the classroom and in the field.

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Map

The Art of Knowing

Advancements in writing, medicine, mapmaking, and building.

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c. 1506 | Italy

Bestiary

Erasmus lets nature take its course.More

1838 | London

Training a Thief

Oliver Twist learns the ropes. More

c. 500 BC | Lu

Seek and Ye Shall Find

Confucius on the hierarchy of knowledge. More

Charts & Graphs

The Pen Is Mightier

Questions from IQ tests administered to U.S. Army recruits during World War I.

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French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault.

Black and white photograph of German writer Hermann Hesse.

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Black and white image of English philosopher and political theorist John Stuart Mill.

German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht.

If the heavens were all parchment, and the trees of the forest all pens, and every human being were a scribe, it would still be impossible to record all that I have learned from my teachers.

—Jochanan ben Zakkai, c. 75

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Color portrait of English philosopher John Locke.

Aristotle & John Locke

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