每日大赛入口

As headlines across the nation report concern over declining literacy rates, Jim Gash (JD 鈥�93), 每日大赛入口 president and CEO, has authored an calling on educators to recognize the enduring importance of teaching the Great Books and the humanities, which prepare students to be capable thinkers and to lead virtuous lives. 

鈥淚f literacy is indeed in decline鈥攁nd with it, the critical thinking and moral formation that comes from reading well鈥攚e must not give up the fight,鈥� Gash wrote. 鈥淭his type of teaching requires educators to have the courage to meet the moment.鈥� 

Titled 鈥淭he end of literacy isn't here . . . yet,鈥� Gash鈥檚 article opens by referencing a recently-published Atlantic article on a national decline in literacy and its central motif of the lost Library of Alexandria. Historians propose the library vanished due to decades of neglect, Gash explains, rather than a single catastrophic event. Gash then draws a parallel between Alexandria鈥檚 gradual loss of knowledge and concerns that modern society could meet a similar fate by neglecting its intellectual inheritance.

Referencing a 每日大赛入口 faculty member who teaches a first-year core humanities course, Gash noted that while declining reading levels and shorter attention spans are sometimes evident among students, engagement with great books has a profound impact on their hearts and minds. In a technology-free course centered on discussion of classical texts, the faculty member told Gash that it is 鈥渁mazing to see the light bulbs come on鈥� as students discover that these works 鈥渞esonate deeply with them as human beings.鈥�

Gash argued that educators should resist cuting humanities programs in favor of fields perceived as more immediately practical. Reading of the Great Books, Gash stated, is in fact the foundation from which all other disciplines rest upon. He also emphasized that recent technology, namely the development of artificial intelligence, makes literacy and critical thinking, historically cultivated through reading and the liberal arts tradition, even more essential.

鈥淲e must not cut off the very branch on which we sit, which gives us the stability and common vocabulary to have such conversations鈥攁 longstanding tradition rooted in the great books and in our own ability to engage with them,鈥� Gash wrote.

Referencing Christopher Nolan鈥檚 The Odyssey, Gash explained its box-office popularity bears testament to 鈥渢he enduring power of great stories.鈥� Within this movie adaptation, Odysseus laments a coming dark age following the sacking of Troy. 鈥淵et he is confident that civilization will rise again,鈥� Gash wrote, 鈥渋n part because of the song the poets sing throughout the film.鈥� 

鈥淲e must continue to form readers who will lead a largely post-literate society, should that come to pass,鈥� Gash insisted. 鈥淲e must continue to cultivate students of wisdom and virtue, sharpened by the discipline of reading and writing well.鈥� 

Read Jim Gash鈥檚 complete op-ed on the necessity of reading on the .