Is a painting worth a thousand books?

While I'm absolutely, positively in favor of colleges that assign their incoming freshman class one book to read, I'm intrigued by what the University of Pennsylvania is doing this year.

As Real Clear Arts reports, "Instead of reading a common book, to be discussed on campus, freshmen have been asked to study and be ready to discuss a painting, The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins.

"The goal, according to Penn's site, is to "introduce students from the start to the critical skill of interpreting vis