Harry Lewis and Stephen Blackwood: What's an Education For?

Описание: Stephen Blackwood speaks with Harry Lewis, legendary Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University (where he taught both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg). They discuss the tragic limits of narrowly vocational approaches to education—with which many young people are pressured to conform—by contrast with education that fosters true self-reflection and a meaningful life. They also discuss cancel culture, college admissions, and freedom of speech.

Cover photo by Kathy Pham.

Links of Interest:

If you'd like to see an example of the more boisterous atmosphere of earlier epochs of higher education, watch the 1958 investiture of the new Rector of the University of Edinburgh, in which the Duke of Edinburgh (i.e. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II) has rolls of toilet paper thrown at his feet.
   • The New Rector (1958)  

Harry Lewis's Blog
http://harry-lewis.blogspot.com

Harry Lewis's Faculty Page
http://harry-lewis.blogspot.com

Books by Harry Lewis
Ideas That Created the Future: Classic Papers of Computer Science
https://www.amazon.com/Ideas-That-Cre...
Excellence without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future?
https://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Wit...
Baseball as a Second Language
https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Secon...

Ralston College
https://www.ralston.ac

Ralston College Short Courses
https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-sho...

Stephen Blackwood
https://www.stephenjblackwood.com

0:00 - Introduction
1:49 - Harry Lewis’s background
4:14 - Excellence Without a Soul and observations of Harvard
12:15 - Advice for young people at university
36:26 - How to cultivate independence of mind
46:24 – Free speech and cancel culture
54:55 – Possibility for unity and correction

#RalstonCollege