We all teach students a massive body of material to get some sort of mastery of it, pass a judgement, and defend it.

There are certain authors that do not turn students on; it is the truth. Homer happens to be one of them.

The theory on my part is to read; reading is the answer. Read anything that you can get your hands on. I would try to make sure that the author has something to say. Take a wide selection of authors: old, new, prose, poets, novels, epics, and all that stuff. ..Think about it and find something to talk about.

The one thing you've got to say about Columbia is that it has courses that are famous. It has alumni who come back and say it was the best thing they ever did.

The British system had requirements, including Latin. I'm not positive you ever had to know Greek, but there are certainly kinds of curricula where you had to know Greek too. I think in Britain there was the most mindless, repetitive sort of learning.

You just don't want to push people into doing things that they really don't want to do. I don't think it's going to produce much.