Great Books Programs in Canada
Encyclopedia
Great Books Programs in Canada are university/college programs inspired by the Great Books
movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is to return to the Western Liberal Arts
tradition in education. Those who mount such programs consider them to be corrective of what they perceive to be an extreme disciplinary specialisation common within the academy.
The essential component of such programs is a high degree of engagement with the Western canon
of whole primary texts deemed to be essential for a student's education. The canon includes books such as Plato's Republic and Dante's Divine Comedy. Great Books programs often focus exclusively on Western culture. Their employment of primary texts dictates an interdisciplinary approach, as most of the Great Books do not fall neatly under the scope of a single contemporary academic discipline.
Great Books programs often include designated discussion groups as well as lectures, and have small class sizes. Students in these programs usually receive an abnormally high degree of attention from their professors, as part of the overall aim of fostering a community of learning.
Great Books
Great Books refers primarily to a group of books that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture ; derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books...
movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is to return to the Western Liberal Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
tradition in education. Those who mount such programs consider them to be corrective of what they perceive to be an extreme disciplinary specialisation common within the academy.
The essential component of such programs is a high degree of engagement with the Western canon
Western canon
The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
of whole primary texts deemed to be essential for a student's education. The canon includes books such as Plato's Republic and Dante's Divine Comedy. Great Books programs often focus exclusively on Western culture. Their employment of primary texts dictates an interdisciplinary approach, as most of the Great Books do not fall neatly under the scope of a single contemporary academic discipline.
Great Books programs often include designated discussion groups as well as lectures, and have small class sizes. Students in these programs usually receive an abnormally high degree of attention from their professors, as part of the overall aim of fostering a community of learning.
Nova Scotia
- The University of King's CollegeUniversity of King's CollegeThe University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....
in Halifax mounts Canada's oldest Great Books program, the first-year Foundation Year Programme, in which students spend their entire first year reading key primary texts from the Ancient Near East to the Contemporary World. - St. Francis Xavier UniversitySt. Francis Xavier UniversitySt. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...
offers a first-year Great-Books curriculum called the Humanities Colloquium.
New Brunswick
- St. Thomas UniversitySt. Thomas University (New Brunswick)St. Thomas University is jointly a public and Roman Catholic liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It offers degrees exclusively at the undergraduate level for approximately 3,000 students in the liberal arts, humanities, journalism, education, and social work....
in Fredericton has a Great Books program called the Great Ideas Program.
Quebec
- The Liberal Arts College at Concordia University in Montreal offers a 3-year Bachelor's degree in the Great Books.
- Laval University in Quebec City offers a one-year program in Greats Books, but in French. The program is called "Certificat sur les oeuvres marquantes de la culture occidentale"
Ontario
- Great Books/Liberal Studies at Brock UniversityBrock UniversityBrock University is a comprehensive university located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Brock offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs that include co-op and other experiential learning opportunities to an enrolment of over 17,000 full-time students.The enabling legislation is...
, St. Catherine's. - The College of the Humanities at Carleton University in Ottawa offers a 4-year Bachelor of Humanities, focusing on Literature, History, Philosophy, and Political Theory. Its main focus is on Western Culture, but it has a significant Eastern component. Students regularly do a combined honours degree in Humanities and a more specialised discipine.
British Columbia
- Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo has offered a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major and minor in Liberal Studies since 1991. The Liberal Studies courses are interdisciplinary, seminar-based and team-taught; they deal primarily but not exclusively with the Western tradition, focus on the development of critical skills and include hands-on art and science.
Further reading
- Emberly, Peter C. and Newell, W.R., Bankrupt Education: The Decline of Liberal Education in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, May 1994.
- Kay, Barbara, "Higher education's best-kept secret." National Post (Canada). Wednesday, November 19, 2008.
See also
- Great BooksGreat BooksGreat Books refers primarily to a group of books that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture ; derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books...
- Liberal ArtsLiberal artsThe term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
- Liberal Arts CollegeLiberal arts collegeA liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
- HumanitiesHumanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
- Western canonWestern canonThe term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...