Monthly Archives: February 2008

On American Education

I have been asked to discuss exactly how it is we are educated in the US. I have made my biases about “the system” clear in posting on vouchers and on higher education, but I guess it is time to explain how everything here is supposed to work in case you don’t know anything about …

February 29, 2008 – 5:25 pm | By ashok | Posted in education | Comments (1)

A Very Public Thanks

A friend and I have now gone over together Xenophon’s Apology, sections of the opening of The Birth of Tragedy (in German, no less!), a very large chunk of Aristotle’s Ethics bk.3 and some key sections of bk 2. He has been kind enough to let me rant, and listen intently, and ask for clarifications …

February 29, 2008 – 1:29 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (0)

Mmmmm…

…the one thing I can get in Dallas that I really don’t trust Philly with is sushi, and I had plenty of that tonight. Will update more later, but y’all are free to e-mail or call (just ask for my number if I haven’t given it already). I’m getting used to being here more, I …

February 28, 2008 – 12:54 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (4)

Rant: If The Liberal Arts Are To Survive, Then People Can’t Be 6 Figures in Debt For An English Degree

To all budding philanthropists in America: If you are worried about things like a decline in reading, an inability to express oneself well verbally, a general lack of knowledge about the past or its significance, or the emergence of a thoughtless populist politics, then take note: You can’t expect people to dedicate themselves fully to …

February 26, 2008 – 1:59 pm | By ashok | Posted in academia, education | Tagged | Comments (7)

An Introduction to Xenophon: Is Deliberation Possible In Politics?

Passages cited are from Xenophon: The Education of Cyrus, trans. Wayne Ambler. Ithaca: Cornell, 2001. So we know that democracies are brought down by any random set of people with a grievance, and that monarchies and oligarchies collapse because of the desire for democracy (1.1.1). What we also know is that tyrants who can preserve …

February 25, 2008 – 1:17 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics, xenophon | Comments (0)

Dissertation Update

Some of you are asking how this is going, so I think talking about the plan openly is a good idea, especially as it helps me get settled. Right now my goal is to get as much Xenophon read as possible until I hit a saturation point and start writing the first major part in …

February 25, 2008 – 12:53 am | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Reconsidering School

This place might be more alive than I initially suspected. At least, the younger students are in motion and seem very happy. I was in the cafeteria today and a ton of them, all looking cherubic in Sunday dress, came from Mass and bounced off the walls and distracted me while I was writing out …

February 24, 2008 – 3:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in education, personal | Tagged | Comments (3)

Where Exactly Does the Cruelty of The Prince Reside?

What is below is subject to being revised entirely at a later date. Allowing man to acquire all he wants is the unleashing of vice. We know moderation is key in some form to all the virtues. But to see the uses of virtue and vice, one has to move beyond the individual, as in …

February 22, 2008 – 1:32 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics | Tagged | Comments (1)

Presently

It’s cold on campus. There are lots of people around, lots of people happy to see me (and asking “what on earth are you doing back”), but something feels strange about it all. Not to mention it was 22 degrees when I left Jersey, 41 when I got here, and 35 now. I dunno. It …

February 22, 2008 – 11:48 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (2)

Away

It’s never me whom I worry about when I travel. Powered by ScribeFire.

February 21, 2008 – 2:03 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (1)