Paradoxes of Education in a Republic

by Eva Brann

Paperback

Genres: Education, Philosophy

178 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 1989

About the author

Eva T. H. Brann was an American scholar, classicist, and the longest-serving tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis. Born in Berlin in 1929 and later immigrating to the U.S., she earned degrees from Brooklyn College and Yale University. Brann devoted over six decades to teaching and writing, becoming a key figure in the Great Books tradition and serving as dean of St. John’s College.
Her wide-ranging works include Paradoxes of Education in a Republic, What, Then, Is Time?, and The Music of the Republic. She also co-translated several Platonic dialogues and received the National Humanities Medal in 2005. Brann passed away in 2024 at the age of 95, leaving behind a lasting legacy of intellectual rigor and philosophical inquiry.

Reviews

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense, incisive analysis of the mores of education in the United States, focused on how the principles of its founders have shaped schools to the modern day. Although it was written 30 years ago, there's not much to quibble with in her assessment. Perhaps that's proof that things don't change as much as we'd like to convince ourselves. The goal is a demonstrable proof of the suitability of a classical (though not nostalgic), reflectively-oriented program of education, particular for undergraduate education. I think there's a lot here that applies to high schools as well. Deserves to be read slowly and engaged with; trying to do too much as once may induce skimming.

[Patrick]

Very good book. Brann does very well to present her three paradoxes of republican education (in an overwhelmingly St. John’s fashion) with some solutions that are—shockingly for a piece of “cultural criticism”—actually worth considering.

Most of the book’s value is simply in elucidating the basic tensions we experience in our educational present: that our education disavows its own value to be “useful”; that we wish to abandon tradition while being inescapably within it; and that we encourage rationalization while desperately looking for something more passionate. These are simplifications, though broadly point towards her theses—which, I promise, hold more nuance.

For better or worse, she cannot say anything without quoting an author. Again, very St. John’s. Good read altogether; I think I’ll come back to it again soon.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. I cannot recommend it more highly to people interested in higher education in America.

[Holly Hendricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating evaluation of the tensions and paradoxes inherent in our republic. Thoughtful analysis of how to maintain the tradition of liberal education in contemporary society.

[Davis Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hits the nail on the head for a brief consideration of the relationship between the American project and liberal education.