To Save Higher Ed, Professors Need to Get a Little Weird

Dr. Dinan is the director of the Great Books program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. He writes the newsletter Prefaces.

I read “The Brothers Karamazov” for the first time last semester. For someone in my line of work — I’m a professor in a great books program — having failed to read one of the greatest novels ever written is embarrassing, close to professional malpractice. So when my co-teacher, Alan, proposed we assign this thousand-page saga to our third- and fourth-year students, I eagerly agreed.

“The Brothers Karamazov” consumed me in a way I hadn’t experienced in years, maybe decades. I could think of little else. Emails went unanswered. I repeatedly read well past my strict, middle-aged 10 p.m. bedtime. I was once so absorbed I forgot to pick up my........

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