Teaching Humanities in New Ways--and Teaching New Humanities‪.‬

At Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts, where I teach, our faculty are part of a generation of scholars, writers, and teachers now living out the dream of tenure. And it is a dream--of job security and freedom of speech and pen. In some ways the tenured professors aging gracefully in our classrooms are the first generation in the United States to do so in the style they do. Many have both their primary homes and a second house on the coast. They enjoy social standing and good salaries. In short, many are in positions where it would be obscene to complain--and still they do. What do we complain about? Mostly, the tenured ones complain about students who are unable to learn and how things have changed. Why are students listening more to consumer culture than their professors? Why won't they read?