Clemente Course in the Humanities
Jefferson County, Washington
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and
never will be.
-Thomas Jefferson
Salon Readings
Allegory of the Cave
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Our Purpose
To support civic engagement and increased community participation of low-income adults through exploration of the intellectual foundations of Western democracy.
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The Classes are Free!
That's right, the classes are free of charge to the student. You get books, instruction, parking, childcare, etc., all for the promise of sticking with the course. The only thing you are expected to pay is attention.
And when you have completed the Course, you receive 6 credits to apply to the college or university of your choice. But, it's more than the sum of these things. It is a chance to realize your potential in life.
Learn more...Salon Series Begins
with "Allegory of the Cave"
The Jefferson County Bard College Clemente Course is proud to announce that we are beginning our Salon series with the pithy section of Plato's Republic commonly known as The Allegory of the Cave. This series has long been in the planning and this is a great way to start it.
Here is a brief introduction to the work:
This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.
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New!
Lecture Series Podcast
Transforming Lives,
Enriching Community
by Lela Hilton, Academic Director
When we started the Clemente Course
in Jefferson County in 1999, we were the
first rural Bard-sponsored Clemente Course in
the Country. We still are.
As a partnership of local agencies, educational institutions and engaged citizens began to work together to offer a free college humanities course to low-income members of our community, there was some concern that we neither had the resources nor the population base to sustain the Course for more than a year or two.
Could we recruit and retain students year after year? Would we be able to find high caliber faculty? Would studying Plato, reading William Shakespeare and Emily Dickenson, and looking at paintings by the great masters of western art really make a difference?
The answer to all of these questions is “yes”!...
...more
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