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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The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards Which Are Accorded Them, by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, 1766.

School Terms

By George Steiner

Redfining literacy for the modern age.

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Map

The Art of Knowing

Advancements in writing, medicine, mapmaking, and building.

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c. 585 | Chang’an

Polished Gold

There is no reward without effort.More

1988 | Odessa

Under the Lights

Getting schooled in Texas high school football.More

1621 | Oxford

Homers Without an Achilles

Great men have always depended on the kindness of scholars.More

Charts & Graphs

Living Wage

Teacher salaries in ancient Rome and modern New York.

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British churchman and man of letters John Henry Newman.

Black and white photograph of critic and novelist Mary McCarthy.

American black militant Eldridge Cleaver.

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Painted portrait of Florentine statesman and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Henry David Thoreau

Rewards and punishment are the lowest form of education.

—Zhuangzi, c. 286 BC

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Color portrait of English philosopher John Locke.

Aristotle & John Locke

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