The majority of classically educated high schoolers have their sights set on a standard four-year college or university. But recent trends have raised the question of what universities are offering and whether it is worth the cost. To understand the emerging landscape of higher education, I will distinguish among the varied goals of different sorts of colleges. There are three broad categories of goals: vocational certification (e.g., nursing, welding), career credentialing (e.g, typical four-year university), and wisdom (e.g., classical colleges). In this talk, I will explore the goals of the latter two types and investigate what students can expect to receive from them, both pro and con. In the process, I will make a case for why classically trained high school graduates might want to pursue a classical undergraduate education.
Eliot Grasso
Eliot Grasso, vice president and tutor at Gutenberg College, joined the faculty in 2012 where he teaches courses on art, music, and aesthetics. Eliot is committed to fostering the intellectual development of his students through discussions centered on primary source readings. Eliot has performed, recorded, taught, and lectured on Irish traditional music internationally. Scholars, critics, and performers have described him as “one of the finest uilleann pipers in the history of Irish music in America.” Eliot has performed for the National Endowment for the Arts Awards, the National Heritage Awards, Glasgow’s International Piping Festival, Piping Live!, Armagh’s William Kennedy International Piping Festival, and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Eliot holds a B.A. in music from Goucher College, a M.A. in ethnomusicology from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Eliot’s scholarship and teaching have been recognized with awards from the Society for Ethnomusicology and the University of Oregon.