Many Americans have assumed that if you want a serious education in history, philosophy, or literature, you must go to college, preferably a highly rated one. The Harvards, Yales, and Princetons of the world have theoretically been where the classics were taught, great ideas debated, and intellectual life was supposed to flourish.
That assumption is beginning to change, and not just because of headlines like “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” The “academy” no longer has a monopoly on serious learning— if it ever truly did. Today, someone can listen to a lecture on Aristotle while commuting to work, join an online reading group on The Lord of the Rings after dinner, and spend an evening discussing The Federalist Papers over a Zoom call.
