Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Cultivation

I was sitting in on a third-year undergraduate course the other day when the prof showed part of a DVD of La Boheme. This was a course on the history of Paris, and she quipped that this would give the students the cultivation they were looking for when they signed up for a class like this. They found this amusing, and she was very light-hearted about it. But, I realized that I haven't even heard anyone use the word 'cultivation' in years, much less use it in regards to higher ed. On the other hand, why study the humanities, if not to become a cultivated person?

So, what is cultivation? And what should you learn in order to be a cultivated person? I'm going to make some suggestions. I'd love to hear from you too...

4 comments:

sock monkey said...

I'm thinking back to your post about cultural conservatism. If one is cultivated, presumably they join the ranks of the culturally elite?

Rufus said...

Do we still have a cultural elite? It used to be the rich and children of the rich were cultivated. But, observe Paris Hilton... And I've learned recently that conservatives aren't as pro-culture as I had thought. I'll probably post on that. Maybe us academic lifers are the cultural elite.

sock monkey said...

I think cultivation comes from variety; the greater the assortment the better.

Rufus said...

Oh, absolutely. The best of everything is what I usually say.