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The Idea of The Great Ideas
Collection StructureFiring Line broadcast records > Episode guide > The Idea of The Great Ideas
Item Title The Idea of The Great Ideas
Guest Adler, Mortimer Jerome (1902-2001)
Host Buckley, William F., Jr. (1925-2008)
Date CreatedMarch 13, 1970
Description

The first Firing Line appearance for Professor Adler, a buoyant thinker and teacher. The "great ideas" get into the discussion, but not separately from the way people are, or should be, introduced to them. Mr. Adler is scathing on the effect our present graduate schools have on undergraduate learning ("the college, instead of being an institution of liberal learning, concerned only to liberate the mind, to discipline it and liberate it,... becomes nothing but a channel, a conduit, into the specializations of the graduate schools." ... "My definition of a good teacher, which I have a hunch you will share, is a person who is himself dedicated to continued general learning.... I know it's kind of trite to say that Socrates was the greatest teacher, but he was. And he was, simply because his teaching was the conduct of an inquiry, in which the students were engaged in the inquiry with him. Now that, it seems to me, is the kind of teaching that should go on in college.") On to Thomas Aquinas, John Dewey, how to help the least able child, and much more.

Language(s)
Country of Origin
Place RecordedNew York City, New York, United States
DimensionsDuration: 50 minutes
FormatMoving Image
Medium television programs
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Color
color
Soundtrack
sound
Hoover IDProgram 193
Record Number80040.193
NotesVideo available through Amazon.
RightsCopyright held by Stanford University. This copy is provided for educational and research purposes only. No publication, further reproduction, or reuse of copies, beyond fair use, may be made without the express written permission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on behalf of Stanford University.
  • Hoover ID: 80040.193
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