What is a Liberal Arts education? In the case of Goshen College, it takes place in the form of numerous classes titled as questions.
For example, the last couple years, Goshen has offered courses such as: What is the Good Life? What is Beauty? What is Music? Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Why Does Travel Writing Matter?Okay, for that last one, I think that if you have to create a class to convince people why something matters, then it probably doesn’t. Also, since Goshen doesn’t offer that course anymore, then apparently they don’t think it matters either.
While most of these classes sound really neat, I could create more interesting courses just by mixing and matching some of these titles.
How about: What is the Good Music?
Or maybe: Why Does Bad Music Happen to Beautiful People?
I might try my hand at teaching Beauty is the Good Life?
If we’re trying to discover some sort of truth by attending Goshen College, then maybe we should be asking the right questions. What is the good question?
Despite what I’ve said so far, posing a question in the course title is not such a bad idea. It gives a clear idea of what one might be learning about.
If only my parents still asked me what I learned today in school, I could tell them I am learning what the good life is, and that for homework we’re supposed to eat pizza and ice cream for dinner.
But if we’re going to title our courses with a question, then we better answer the dang question.
I haven’t taken the course Are We Still Human, but I am still waiting to hear from someone who has whether the answer is yes or no. That seems like a pretty straightforward final exam.
There’s another course offered here called Free Information?
If you’re confused why this course is posed as a question, you’re not alone. What are they questioning? Whether it’s information or whether it’s free?
I am all for the question courses but let’s not go all willy-nilly about it or else we’ll have an existential crisis on our hands.
