Our English Syllabus

I found Our English Syllabus troubling because C.S. Lewis’s vision for College is so divergent from what we do at Calvin College.

We emphasize a large breadth of courses, coaxing students into tasting many areas of education. Lectures are given, telling students about areas that they may, or may not, be interested in. Calvin believes it knows how to make us into better people, and will do what is best for us, whether we like it or not.

C.S. Lewis takes quite a different stance. He believes that colleges are “not for teaching but for the pursuit of knowledge.” He believes that “the student is, or ought to be, a young man who is already beginning to follow learning for its own sake.” By this point in our lives, we should have an idea of what we’re interested in, and be eagerly pursuing knowledge because our cultivated curiosity. Recognizing the limitations of time, we thus are to seek a depth of knowledge in our area of interest. By “exhaustively” (I use the term hesitantly) studying a subject, we will be teaching ourselves and benefiting from feedback, not instructions, from our professors.

But I have a problem with this vision. It is far too narrow. I realize that specialization must occur, and we must not be enslaved to people’s opinions of what a general overview of subject is (which seems to be what a core class is). But I think the opposing danger is one of being enslaved to our own opinion. Independent study can be similarly poisonous (Think of certain website “scholars”). I think C.S. Lewis places too much confidence in students. We are incapable of having an objective view on a subject, and need the diversification of perspective that Calvin’s core curriculum offers.

And yet C. S. Lewis is also right to place confidence in students. He is not such an idealist as to believe everyone is excited about learning, especially not all the time. He rather encourages us, and I think this is crucial, to at least pretend. For our own sakes, students need to force themselves into enthusiasm. If we believe that education is a good thing, we should feel obligated to adopt some sort of pretence of excitement.