In the experimental venture reported in this article, moral and ethical frameworks are applied to an Academic English 12 class. Using this work as an extension of the existing research on moral literacy and moral leadership, high school seniors apply the frameworks to literary characters in canonical texts. Such an approach is an amalgamation of…

Hans-Georg Gadamer has been criticized by a wide range of feminist scholars who argue that his work neglects feminine aspects of understanding, many of which are essential to sound theorizing about educational contexts. In this essay, Linda O'Neill employs Virginia Woolf's classic gender analysis both as a foil for Gadamer's philosophical…

Interviews William Horwood, a British writer who has undertaken a series of sequels to Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows." Recounts the story of how the books came to be and their significance for the author. (PA)

In this article, the author describes Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities in Bogliasco, Italy, which offers a stately perch from which a few lucky scholars and artists can gaze at the Mediterranean and gather their thoughts making it so conducive to the study of arts and letters. The center provides scholars and artists midcareer and…

The decades since the 1960s have been unfortunate in many respects for American higher education, but things are not uniformly bleak. Here and there, the study of Great Books persists. The general picture that is available, then, of the health of great-books study in colleges today is mixed. High-visibility news stories, along with curriculum…

The way in which foreign languages, including the Classics, are taught is evolving. There are those who teach language for literature-based, instrumental purposes only, and those who want to see foreign language education cross boundaries into literature, culture, history, and geography. Foreign language educators have the opportunity to teach…

This article offers a guide to introduce Shakespeare's plays and his life. All it takes are five days in the library media center; some student handouts; plenty of resources, both print and online; some word processing software; plus a little patience and flexibility. Students complete a timeline, a paper and a cover sheet, all of which can be…

French children's literature, which includes so many masterpieces of the rarest and most remarkable kind does not constitute a literature in the strict sense. It has neither continuity nor traditions. (Author)

There is almost a revivalist movement in English children's classics, but the author questions their ability to survive in an increasingly mechanical age, and cautions against the negative effects of the new media and insensitive techniques of publishers. (SJ)

For educators' summer reading enjoyment, "Kappan" editors recommend three books on nature (Robert Richardson's biography "Emerson: The Mind on Fire, William Cronin's edited book "Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature," and Gary Snyder's poetry volume "Mountain and Rivers Without End"). Also…

Offers six high school teachers' suggestions about using adolescent novels to introduce students to a literary classic. Reports that this approach can help young readers relate the literary experience to their own lives. (SR)

Finds "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" functions as a "surprisingly accurate cultural translation" of de Troyes's "Perceval" text. Suggests that using such films helps students open a door upon film studies and discursive studies that will serve them well as they adapt to their own historical moment. (PA)

Argues that the 1996 film of "Romeo and Juliet" (starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes, and transposed to inner-city gang culture) is a gripping presentation of Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers in an impulsive, hot-headed, violent world. Suggests that the film is practically guaranteed to make students love Shakespeare.…

The author joined the faculty of Macalester College in the fall of 1968. Much to his surprise, he discovered at the first faculty meeting that he could not understand what his new colleagues were talking about. For many years he literally had no one to talk to about subjects that mattered most to him, such as the philosophy of education. Then…