What We Study

Free Minds offers a two-semester course in the humanities, introducing students to works that are central to the study of literature, American history, philosophy, and theater. Free Minds students practice critical thinking and group discussion and work closely with program faculty to prepare for the college-level writing required in subsequent classes. Each year, students make several class excursions to attend theater performances and tour museums. Local artists and writers visit the class, as well as other faculty members and experts.

What are the Humanities?

The humanities encompass a variety of disciplines, such as literature, history, philosophy, film, art history, and the performing arts, all of which grapple with the big questions about what it means to be human. In effective humanities classrooms, students are asked to think seriously about how we should balance individual fulfillment with the good of the group–or about how the past informs the present. Humanities students might ask, what role does culture play in shaping one’s view of life? Or what constitutes moral action?

In education circles, the humanities have also come to stand for a broad base of knowledge, cultural literacy, analytical and communication skills. In contrast to courses that teach highly particular skills (such as a course in computer programming or swimming or sewing), humanities courses are aimed at teaching the more general skills of critical thinking, writing, speaking, and listening. We believe that these skills stand to benefit all members of society, cutting across occupation, caste, culture, gender, and race.

What We Read

The reading list below reflects a sample of the poems, plays, novels, philosophical works, and historical documents Free Minds students read and discussed between 2006 and 2014.

The Arabian Nights
“Brown vs. the Board of Education,” court case
The Declaration of Independence
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The letters of John Adams and Abigail Adams
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, American Slave
W. E. B. DuBois, “The Talented Tenth”
Euripides, The Trojan Women
Benjamin Franklin, “Notes Concerning the Savages of North America”
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Homer, The Odyssey
Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feel to Be Colored Me”
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”
Tony Kushner, Angels in America
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
Plato, The Republic
William Shakespeare, Macbeth