News & Blog
NEWS RELEASE: House Higher Education Committee Studies the Value of Western Civilization and American Traditions Coursework in Interim Committee Hearing
AUSTIN, TX – The House Committee on Higher Education held a public hearing today to address two of the committee’s interim charges, including a charge to study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.
Click below to read the full release.
St. John's College Great Books Program
The Great Books program was introduced to St. John 's College in 1937 and is now the main curriculum offered. St. John's is a liberal arts college that offers only one bachelor's degree, Liberal Arts, and two master's degrees - one in Liberal Arts and one in Eastern Classics.
An influential leader's book: "How to think about Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization"
Mortimer J. Adler's passion for history, philosophy and western civilization helped him become an influential leader in the teaching of western civilization in universities. He began popularizing the phrases "Great Ideas" and "Great Books" at the University of Chicago in the 1930s and faced controversy regarding his leadership in creating education centered around a Great Books curriculum. Adler's ideas have spread through many universities across the nation.
The Center for the Study of Great Ideas
The Center for the Study of Great Ideas, founded by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler and Max Weisman in 2000, is based on the principle that "Philosophy is Everybody's Business". The Center's unique mission revolves around a Great Ideas program inspired by philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle and a Great Books program based on philosohpical teachings in Western Civilization. This site is a great resource to find over 100 Great Books, college programs featuring Great Books and Ideas, and links to other programs also inspired by ancient teaching based on Western Tradition.
CATE commends Speaker Straus and Chairman Branch for emphasizing Western civ issue in interim charges released today
House Speaker Joe Straus announced today an interim charge to "study the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum."
Click below to read the news release.
A great book about "Great Books"
This book, entitled The Great Books: From The Iliad and the Odyssey to Goethe's Faust: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear highlights works by Homer, Ovid, Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Racine, who have greatly influenced Western tradition. The Times Higher Education reports what they believe to be the three criteria of a great book: first, the book should utilize tradition; secondly, it should display a religious sensibility; and lastly, the human characters involved should all be individuals of "heroic stature".
National Great Books Curriculum Academic Community
The National Great Books Curriculum Academic Community focuses on the writings and authors found in the Great Books of the Western World. The Community consists of five founding member community colleges. This great resource includes a Core Author List, a guide for and examples of a Great Books Curriculum, a Great Books Student Scholarly Journal, and a National Great Books Forum.
CATE meets with Sam Houston State University to discuss EWCAT Center
On November 9, CATE representatives met with Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas to learn about the Center for Ethics, Western Civilization and American Traditions (EWCAT). We are pleased with the progress of the Center so far, and look forward to working with SHSU representatives throughout the implementation of the program. Be sure to check our blog for more updates on the Center's progress!
The Great Books Curriculum at Thomas Aquinas College
Thomas Aquinas College provides an inside look at its Great Books curriculum, conveying the power of the Great Books to "shape human events and to change lives." The College stands firm in its assertion that unlike textbooks, Great Books provide students with primary, unbiased information that will help them develop their own perspectives.
Great Western Civilization resource from ISI
The Western Civilization, Our Philosophical and Moral Tradition section of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) Online Education in Liberty is a great resource on the inherited tradition of Western Civilization. The section "will provide opportunities for reflection upon the ancient, medieval, and early modern sources of Western Civilization - and contemporary challenges to these time-tested truths."
Daily Texan article speaks to CATE's concerns of Thomas Jefferson Center at UT
An article from The Daily Texan written by Lorraine Pangle, co-director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas at the University of Texas, speaks to the concerns raised by CATE after a recent meeting with the Center's representatives of the need for a defined reading list for the Center.
While we believe that the Center is heading in the right direction, CATE would still like to see a fixed canon for the Center that incorporates the core texts and original works that have formed the foundations and principles of our country.
CATE meets with UT Thomas Jefferson Center representatives
On September 29, CATE representatives met with Randy Diehl, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Thomas and Lorraine Pangle, the co-directors of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas at the University of Texas. We discussed the details, goals and future of the Center and shared with them the mission and plans for CATE.
October Newsletter
The CATE October newsletter was emailed to all coalition members. Make sure to read your newsletter for the most recent news and updates of our efforts.
Lone Star Report
"Western civilization college coalition organizes"/By Andy Hogue/August 28, 2009
"These dismal results, as a new group promoting curricular reform sees it, underscore the need for overhaul of the way teaching Texas college students learn Western civilization and ethics..."
Read the full article for more information on CATE and the need for programs focusing on Western civilization and American traditions.
CATE praises Chairman Dan Branch's charge request to Speaker
CATE recently sent a letter Chairman Dan Branch praising the interim charge request he submitted to Speaker Joe Straus to "study the value to the state and students of offering an optional curriculum emphasizing ethics, Western civilization and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum, including the most effective design of such an optional curriculum." We are grateful for Chairman Branch's active efforts, and look forward to working with the legislature to achieve our goals.
CATE urges inclusion of charge request in interim study
CATE contacted Speaker Joe Straus to express support for Chairman Branch's charge request, and to urge inclusion of the charge in the interim process. We feel it is important that the Legislature study the value to the state and to universities of offering coursework in ethics, Western civilization and American traditions.
ISI’s American Civics Literacy Survey
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a non-profit educational organization, tested American citizens on their knowledge of American civics. The results reveal that Americans are alarmingly uninformed about our Constitution, the basic functions of our government, the key texts of our national history, and economic principles. Of the 2,508 Americans taking ISI's civic literacy test, 71% fail. Nationwide, the average score on the test is only 49%.
"Texas Undergraduates Fail at Civics"
According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation's report on ISI's American Civic Literacy Survey Results, "...Approximately 1,000 freshmen and senior undergraduates were randomly selected from the three Texas universities to take a basic test on America's history and institutions. On average, the students answered 49.3 percent questions correct, failure on a traditional scale."
"The Demise of Great Books"
The Daily Texan/September 23, 2009/By John Davidson
"The latest chapter in the long, depressing story of classical liberal education in America is unfolding here in Austin, where the University of Texas has recently snuffed out a nascent Great Books program..."
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