We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
Public education should make citizens, not workers. So says Danielle Allen in our new forum—and she thinks that the focus on STEM can’t accomplish that goal, only the humanities can. Respondents include Deborah Meier, Clint Smith, Michel DeGraff, and Rob Reich. Alex de Waal, one of the nineties’ leading humanitarian reporters, has had a radical change of heart: almost all humanitiarian interventions go horribly wrong, he mourns, so maybe we’re doing more harm than good. Samuel Moyn worries we focus too much on rights and not enough on duties, and James G. Chappel proposes that our obsession with secularism has made religion more inscrutable—and out of control—than ever. Plus a celebration of 2016’s 92Y/”Discovery” Prize–winning poets, and new work from John Ashbery, Jorie Graham, and Brenda Hillman.
Forum
DANIELLE ALLEN DEBATES
DEBORAH MEIER, CARLOS FRAENKEL, DEBRA SATZ, MICHEL DEGRAFF, JEFFREY AARON SNYDER, LELAC ALMAGOR, ROB REICH, LUCAS STANCZYK, AND CLINT SMITH.
Ryan Fox, Carlie Hoffman, Gaia Mukomolova, and Miller Oberman
Contributions from readers enable us to provide a public space, free and open, for the discussion of ideas. Join this effort – become a supporting reader today.
Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission