Variations on a Blue Guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute Lectures on Aesthetic Education

by Maxine Greene

Special 2018 Edition From the new Introduction by William Ayers , education activist : “Here is Maxine Greene in full—in her astonishingly distinctive voice she urges us to challenge all the clichés and received 'truths' that clutter our minds and senses, to open our eyes!” For 25 years, Maxine Greene was the philosopher-in-residence at the innovative Lincoln Center Institute, where her work formed the foundation of the Institute's aesthetic education practice. Each summer she addressed teachers from across the country, representing all grade levels, through LCI's intensive professional development sessions. Variations on a Blue Guitar contains a selection of these never-before-published lectures touching on the topics of aesthetic education, imagination and transformation, educational renewal and reform, excellence, standards, and cultural diversity—powerful ideas for today’s educators.

Genres: Education, Grad School, Philosophy, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2001

Reviews

[Peaches · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's pretty telling that only one person bothered to write a review other than myself on here. Yes, Greene is more famous than I will ever be, but her rambling style is exhausting, so it was hard to keep going. She brings up some points about art that have since then been better researched, so I'd say this is a foundational text. But honestly, though the former English major in me appreciates how she is seemingly constantly moved by Shakespeare and other classic texts, she still spends an entire book advocating for teachers to curate art for their students (or, filter, if you will). Nowhere does she seem to view students capable of making their own art, which means she too is supporting academic snobbery.

[Jamea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maxine Greene: a one of a kind philosopher/educator. This is not the kind of book that can ---or rather, should be quickly digested. Take your time reading and thinking about these lectures and ideas. Allow the artist in you to be awakened.

[Cathlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely masterful (of the essays that I have read/skimmed). I took a course on Aesthetics and Education this past semester with the splendid Dr. Greene. The manner in which the humanities influence her ways of thinking about education (her conception of instilling "wide-awakeness" in students through the use of art and literature is particularly striking) are becoming very important in my own research/work. There is a magnificence here, in refusing to accept mind-numbing cultures of testing and accountability, in infusing joy, beauty, and the mysterious into the daily work of teaching, and to see new alternatives in education. I think Greene is the theorist who I was searching for in the last decade of my life as a teacher. Finding her at Teachers College, well, I think that almost makes the ridiculous cost of tuition well worth it.